They've got the back-story shtick, tons of indie cred, and more talent between two guys than most full bands have. The result? A lovely CD full of the most twee electronica you've heard outside of all those oddballs from Iceland. Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel, Figurine) first collaborated on a Dntel song, "(This Is) the Dream of Evan and Chan." Lucky for us, they continued their musical relationship through the good ol' USPS, sending snippets of songs back and forth to each other. This songwriting duo fleshed out their pen pal productions into 10 songs, called it The Postal Service and released it through Subpop.
Gibbard's youthful vocals place his earnestness, his heart and just about everything else on his sleeve. His heartfelt lyrics are full of love both lost and found, joyfully backed up by the sweet, clear vocals of Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) and solo songstress Jen Wood. These melodies flow into Tamborello's lithe, twitchy IDM in a surprisingly perfect manner and the result is glorious synthpop. Think the poppiness of OMD (only a whole lot better), rather than the darkness of Depeche Mode. The sweetness, at times, can be a little too rich and some lyrics miss the mark, but 90 percent of the time, Give Up is irrepressibly infectious. It makes one wish for the days of high school sweethearts just so you could make a mix tape with "Such Great Heights" on it for your crush.
On "Natural Anthem," Tamborello flexes his IDM muscles for five minutes with lightening beats drenched in feedback. "This Place Is a Prison" has icy minimalist beats that could be found in some of the more lonely songs of Bjork. But the majority of Give Up is filled with sunshine pop filtered through a Casio. The most obvious comparison is anything Stephin Merritt (The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, Magnetic Fields) gets his genius hands on. The Postal Service embodies that same disparate mix of saccharine love, macabre end-of-the-world fears and suspicions, light-hearted melodies and a beat you can dance to, all pieced together jigsaw-perfect as if it's not composed of the mismatched parts of 10 different puzzles.
The Postal Service Give Up
