In November 2004, Death Cab for Cutie signed a "long-term worldwide deal" with Atlantic Records, leaving their long-time label Barsuk Records. Gibbard stated on the official website that nothing would change except that "next to picture of Barsuk holding a "7", there will be a letter "A" on both the spine and back of our upcoming albums". After signing to Atlantic, the band was still nervous about corporate economics, and encouraged fans to download its songs from the Internet.
The first and second singles from the band's Atlantic Records release Plans were "Soul Meets Body" and "Crooked Teeth" respectively (which they performed on Saturday Night Live on January 14, 2006). The full album was released in August 2005. Plans was well received by critics and fans, and received a nomination of the Grammy Award for the Best Alternative Album of 2005. It achieved Gold Status in 2006 after charting on Billboard for 47 consecutive weeks and was certified platinum by the RIAA at the beginning of May in 2008. The band released a touring DVD titled Drive Well, Sleep Carefully, in 2005. Known for their contribution to animal rights, the band is supporting the activist group PETA in giving away copies of the DVD to promote animal rights. In early 2006, the band announced the upcoming release of Directions, eleven short film inspired by songs from the Plans album, each directed by a different person. The videos were posted one at a time at the band's website and the DVD went on sale April 11, 2006. The iTunes Store began selling the videos (formatted for iPod) early on March 28, 2006. Lance Bangs, P.R. Brown, Ace Norton, Jeffrey Brown, Lightborne, Autumn de Wilde, Rob Schrab, Laurent Briet and Monkmus, as well as Aaron Stewart-Ahn, are among directors that have contributed to the project. An episode of MTV2's Subterranean played these videos for the whole hour plus discussion with members of the band. In 2006, the band made completed their lenghty 2006 tour of the USA on December 10, 2006, finishing with a show at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington.
Walla claimed on October 18, 2007 that the new album was "in full swing" and that they had six songs completed. He went on to call the music "weird", "spectacular", and "creepy", saying that it contained "lot of blood". He noted that the album had a "Can jam" that lasted for 10 minutes, which Walla said that he would have never imagined doing in 1998. In a Billboard piece in January '08, the band promised the album to be a "curve ball", and said that although it would have slower songs, there would be some surprises. Walla said, "I'm really excited about it. It's really got some teeth. The landscape of the thing is way, way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that has been happening for the last couple of records.". Walla added that the album was "louder and more dissonant and.... abrasive." They claimed that they were influenced by "synth-punk band Brainiac." The album, titled Narrow Stairs, was released on May 12, 2008. The band released the first single, "I Will Posses Your Heart" from the album on March 18, 2008. It was met with plaudits from the band's official fan club, the DCFC Union, as well as some concern from more casual fans, saying the musical introduction, though powerful and emotive with the driving bass line, was too long. The radio edit version does not include the extended introduction.
In an album reviews, MTV writer James Montgomery said that although "Death Cab for Cutie had gone insane," he also believes that it could make "an early contender for the best album of 2008". And eventually, would be nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for the "Best Rock Song", as well as Narrow Stairs nominated for "Best Alternative Music Album". The band won in neither category, but prompted debate after appearing at the excessive use of Auto-Tune in the music industry. He also said that "Narrow Stairs is a great album, one that could make them very famous, but could very well also kill their careers." The album was their first album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 chart on May 31, 2008. "No Sunlight" is the third single from the album. Bassist Nick Harmer has said that the band will release an EP in April. The EP is expected to contain songs left off of Narrow Stairs.
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