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And to make sure these things were recorded for posterity, she took Sam Horner to take pictures of them. That's dedication for you!

Here is her account in full....

This document contains top secret information. Well, sort of. With only eight copies in the UK and no advance promos available for press, the new Death Cab for Cutie album, 'Narrow Stairs', is seriously confidential stuff.

So when Fraser said Sam and I could go along to a preview hearing it was only fitting that I wore a well, err, fitting FBI-style mac (they're back in fashion, don't you know)… oh, and that I was just a teeny, tiny bit excited!

We arrived at Atlantic records and I could not help but feel mildly surprised (and slightly over-dressed) at the sight of loads of young, cool people working there. Aren't music industry people all meant to be creepy men in suits?

We walked through the offices, past the stacks and stacks of CDs (it took everything in me not to steal the new Panic album, although maybe I shouldn't be admitting to that...) and eventually we were shown to a soundproof room that was kitted out with big comfy sofas and (get this) bottled water.

And, after a bit of chit-chat and general sharing of love for all things Death Cab, it happened: the play button was pressed and the preview had officially begun...

...Err, kind of. The start of the Death Cab album is a slow, atmospheric build up, which (be it a good thing or bad) means it doesn't exactly demand your attention. Which also means five people in a room, saying nothing, sipping water and looking everywhere but at each other.

Where on earth are you meant to look at this sort of thing?! I tried looking at my shoes, but two minutes into the first song I became all too aware of a) a tiny scratch on my right heel and b) the fact that I looked like I had a foot obsession. So I moved my gaze. To someone else's shoes. But they saw me looking. And moved their feet so I couldn't see. So, already, I had successfully managed to look like a detective with a foot fetish. Great.

Then, suddenly, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab's voice broke through and everything was OK. Comforted by the beautiful familiarity of his voice I relaxed, leant back...and hit my head on the wall, because my sofa did not have a back. Bah!

Indeed, the album as a whole is simultaneously familiar and not. There is a certain rawness, a certain emphasis on the intricacies that are reminiscent of earlier Death Cab, feeling more 'Photo Album' than 'Plans...' and yet, it is certainly different. The guitar is often cranked up, the melodies move more and each song holds a surprise in store, be it the jerky guitar pluck of 'The Remainder', the slide guitar of 'The Ice Is Getting Thinner', the upbeat 60's sounding 'You Can Do Better Than Me (But I Can't Do Better Than You)' or the abrupt stop in 'Pity and Fear' (which made us all jump). The band seem to have laid bare their sound and pushed it in all directions.

'Narrow Stairs' doesn't make easy listening (although this probably wasn't helped by the mac/shoe-fetish/head-banging-on-wall/not-knowing-where-to-look thing), but it has made me excited, very excited, and pretty damn desperate to hear it again.

Going to the advance listening has been a learning experience for me, oh yes. I have discovered that these things are not only for embarrassing yourself in front of important-type people… they are also about having something super exciting dangled in front of you and then having it taken away again!

Speaking of which, this article will self-destruct in ten seconds…*

*This is a lie.

And here's Death Cab's latest single 'I Will Possess Your Heart'