Narrow Stairs reached number one on the Billboard 200, making it Death Cab for Cutie's highest charting album to-date.

In October 2007, producer and guitarist Chris Walla said that Death Cab for Cutie's new album "is in full swing; we're six songs in."

It's creepy and heavy... we've got a ten minute long Can jam, and had you suggested that possibility to me in 1998, I'd have eaten your puppy's brain with a spoon.

"[4] Ben Gibbard, lead singer and writer, commented, "I just don't feel like we really have anything to prove of it other than to ourselves and to making a record we really enjoy.

"[7] While promoting the band's subsequent album, Codes and Keys (2011), Benjamin Gibbard reflected upon Narrow Stairs' lyrical content, stating, "That record is kind of a fulcrum in my life.

"[8] Several of the songs have literary or cultural themes, for example "Grapevine Fires" appears to be centered on the wildfires that raged in California during the summer and fall of 2007.

[22] Rolling Stone called the album "a dark, strangely compelling record that trades the group's bright melancholy for something nearer to despair.

"[20] In his Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau gave it a two-star honorable mention (), while picking out two songs from the album ("You Can Do Better Than Me" and "Grapevine Fires") and stating that the album has "Unfailingly melodic, surprisingly dynamic, somewhat overextended love problems, and if [Ben is] so smart why doesn't he shelve music and solve them?

"[23] The album has been highly rated by critics and fans, having been awarded 4 stars out of 5 by publications such as Rolling Stone, Blender[24] Kerrang!,[25] Uncut, Alternative Press, The Times,[26] The Observer,[27] The Independent and The Guardian, as well as by the websites AllMusic and Consequence of Sound,[28] and Tiny Mix Tapes.

[13] Boston radio station WERS ranked Narrow Stairs as the No.8 album of 2008 based on a listener poll.

[40] In its debut week, Narrow Stairs reached the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 144,000 copies and scoring the band its first No.1 album.