For a sure demographic, the naughty aughties had been a transformative decade for what all agree appears like “indie rock.” From the rise of Arcade Fireplace, to The Strokes to TV On the Radio to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and even the second wave of Britpop that includes bands like The Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Occasion, what was as soon as known as “different” had morphed into one thing concurrently extra various and, additionally, possessed an by chance unified aesthetic. Name it twee. Name it no matter you need. The primary ten years of the twenty first century had been a good time for music.
Towards the start of this wave was one report everybody had, and have become the moment soundtrack to all the things you probably did and in every single place you went. Dropped on February 19, 2003, the one and solely album from The Postal Service — Give Up — was the bittersweet angsty sonic manifesto for a whole technology of teenagers and twentysomethings. These of us who keep in mind after we weren’t known as “previous millennials” could have a tough time accepting that twenty years have handed since this album dropped. Looks as if solely yesterday, we had been sneaking into secret bars to hang around with Ben Gibbard to smoke some Parliament Lights. Simply me?
After all, The Postal Service just isn’t actually a band. Ben Gibbard had already established himself because the frontman of Demise Cab For Cutie, which had shaped in 1997. He’s one half of The Postal Service, along with his ethereal vocals and lyrics sounding very very like many different nice Demise Cab albums. And but, Give Up predates Demise Cab’s 2003 album Transatlanticism by eight months. Sure, these two Gibbard tasks had been launched the identical yr, however Give Up isn’t a Demise Cab album, any greater than Paul McCartney’s Ram is a Beatles album. And that’s as a result of the key weapon of The Postal Service is Jimmy Tamborello, higher recognized by his DJ stage identify, Dntel.
Primarily, Dntel crafted that great digital sound, whereas Gibbard wrote the songs. The duo collaborated by snail mail, sending one another burned CDs by the US postal service, therefore the identify. These back-and-forth music pen friends, added layers to every music by this course of, which ultimately resulted within the album we obtained. And, though Gibbard introduced in some Demise Cab collaborators (like Chris Walla), most individuals think about the third honorary member of the Postal Service to be Jenny Lewis. On the time, Lewis was greatest often called the lead singer of the band Rilo Kiley, although that band’s most well-known album, Extra Adventurous, would not be launched for one more yr, in 2004.
Nevertheless, the memorable duet with Gibbard on the monitor “Nothing Higher,” is sung with Jen Wooden, of the band Tattle Story. It’s tempting to say “Nothing Higher” is one of the best music on Give Up, largely as a result of it’s actually the one which’s nice dwell, and has probably the most distinctive and inventive construction. That mentioned, Jenny Lewis sings on almost all the opposite Postal Service tracks, which does make it seem to be she’s actually on this band.
Monitor-for-track it’s robust to discover a unhealthy music on Give Up. From the opening anthem “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight,” to the mega-famous monitor “Such Nice Heights,” to “Clarke Gable” and “Sleeping In,” every one among these songs provides different Demise Cab singles a run for his or her cash. All through, the trick of making catchy upbeat melodies paired with melancholy lyrics works virtually each single time. Aside from possibly “This Place Is a Jail,” which doesn’t actually go wherever.
The classics on Give Up are so good that when Iron & Wine lined “Such Nice Heights,” in 2006, all of your hipster mates erroneously believed the Postal Service had stolen the music, relatively than the opposite approach round. In 2013, this cowl appeared on a Tenth-anniversary reissue of Give Up together with The Shins overlaying “We Will Grow to be Silhouettes.” These covers are nice, however neither is close to nearly as good because the Postal Service originals.
It’s tempting to say Give Up was a product of its time, and due to this fact dated. However, when you hearken to it now, it feels simply as up to date and slick because it sounded twenty years in the past. It’s upbeat sufficient to keep away from being straight-out emo and complicated sufficient to make its style considerably undefinable. Twenty years later, any idealistic future has but to reach. So, now, there might be nothing higher than placing this album on loud, and dancing and crying such as you’re twenty-five once more.
