Putting their stamp on indie

Album: Give Up
Artist: The Postal Service
Label: Sub Pop
Release date: 19 February, 2003
Peak chart position/sales: (US) #114 (Electronic #1, Heatseekers #1, Indie #3) Gold

RATING: 3/5 stars.

Take: one vocalist, one producer, plus some spare time, add a lawsuit and you have: The Postal Service. The US postal service might have sued them (unsucessfully) for their name, but the side project for Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamberello that is their duo The Postal Service blossomed into a fully-fledged album that hit #3 in the Independent Charts and went Gold in the United States. The chance collaboration that brought Death Cab For Cutie’s vocalist (Gibbard) and the producer of Dntel and Headset (Tamberello) together, was (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan - a complex electro/dance/indie composition with stunning lyrics and breathtaking melodic fluency that is still the benchmark by which Postal Service enthusiasts measure the band’s latest work. Being a rookie PS listener and spurred on by the joyous praises of their fanhood, I decided to kick off my PS week with "(This Is)…” and discovered a unique fusion of Indie and Electro/Dance that my ears had as yet not experienced. Comfort zone = busted! And so with burning curiosity I proceeded to fully absorb The Postal Service’s newest sounds.

Give Up opens with the gently eclectic “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” which introduces us to Ben Gibbard’s earnest vocals and introverted surrealist lyrics: “I’m staring at the asphalt wondering what’s buried underneath where I am”, floating atop a pulsing mix of ever-changing synth waves and electro beats that are by turns melodic and interwoven, or abrupt and invasive. The album takes a more delicate turn with a sparse texture of sparkling keyboard notes in the Belle & Sebastian-esque “Sleeping In”; a gentle pondering on the complexities of modern society. “Last night I had the strangest dream / Where everything was exactly how it seemed /Where there was never any mystery /Of who shot John F. Kennedy” begins Gibbard, later musing “No concerns about the world getting warmer / The people thought they were just being rewarded”.

Sadly, more than one track is slightly cheapened by the guest vocals of Jenny Lewis whose uncreative harmonies erode a little of the sophistication of Gibbard’s sincere deliveries. Add to this some weak lyrical moments and you get “Nothing Better”. “So please back away and let me go /I can't my darling I love you so /Oh oh” goes the uninspired Lewis/Gibbard duet. Ultra slow verses and uninspired words couple to make a snooze-worthy track with a disappointing lack of creativity. “Clark Gable” ensues to pick us up and throw us back into the album with its peppy handclapping pace, but also displays signs of writer’s block: “I want so badly to believe that there is truth, that love is real". Gosh, haven’t heard that one before. Immediately following that however, are the lyrics: “And I want life in every word to the extent that it's absurd /I know you're wise beyond your years, but do you ever get the fear /That your perfect verse is just a lie you tell yourself to help you get by?” which earns instant forgiveness with its pure eloquence and poetic merit.

The remainder of the album is in much the same line. By far the standout track is the beautifully melodic “We Will Become Silhouettes”, followed closely by the darker “This Place Is A Prison” and “Brand New Colony”, which sweetens the atmosphere with its cheerful toe-tapping beat and promises of romantic protection. “Natural Anthem” takes the prize for Longest, Most Boring Intro; the sweetly simplistic melody and perfectly metered lyrics coming more than four minutes after my attention had gone AWOL during the monotonous, chaotically fuzzy introduction which I would gladly have swapped for more of the verse. An optimistic lift in the form of the closing track “Be Still My Heart” (but on the downside, more Jenny Lewis) and the album closes in a gentle ‘pop’ of cryptic indie poetry and buzzing pulses.

At best, a stunning fusion of indie/electro moods and beats with beautifully crafted lyrics and masterful melodies, at worst, an untidy mesh of beats and rambling verses that fail to develop into the true beauty that the Gibbard/Temberello duo have shown us a tantalising glimpse of.

Is it worth my $$$? – Give Up has superb consistency…but perhaps to a fault. After two tracks, the rest begin to merge in a seemingly endless array of beats and dreamy deliveries that threaten to forcibly placate the listener by smothering them with ridiculously chilled vocals and monotonous beats . A near-perfect chill-out playlist though, so if that’s what you’re after then go forth and feed your iPod!

Listen to: We Will Become Silhouettes, Sleeping In, Brand New Colony