Track Listing

1. District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2. Such Great Heights
3. Sleeping In
4. Nothing Better
5. Recycled Air
6. Clark Gable
7. We Will Become Silhouettes
8. This Place Is A Prison
9. Brand New Colony
10. Natural Anthem

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2904 in Music
• Released on: 2003-04-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
In every sense of the word Give Up, the debut album from American Electro beatniks the Postal Service is a remarkable record. Born of a chance meeting between Ben Gibbard, singer of Seattle indie-rockers Death Cab for Cutie and LA resident and Dntel lynch-pin Jimmy Tamborello, and written and recorded by post--hence the name the Postal Service--it's an inspired, if unlikely, marriage of lo-fi innocence and hi-tech beauty. Gibbard's voice is filled with the insecure questioning normally restricted to recently dumped singers in emo bands. Tamborello's clicks, bleeps, analogue murmurs and eerie scraps are the stuff of inaccessible bedroom electronica. Together though, they find a sensual middle ground where stories of jilted lovers and fragile desires softly prick the emotions on a tidal wave of otherworldly synthetic sounds. "The District Sleeps Alone", with its tripping beats, bittersweet computer strings and tragically uplifting hook is melancholy at its most tender. "Sleeping In" is a joyously sunny daydream; a naïve vision of how good the world could be. And everything else falls somewhere between the two--equal parts heartbreak and hope, to form a strange and wonderful dimension where electro-pop has a soul. --Dan Gennoe

CD Description
A side project from Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, who formerly played with synth-poppers Figurine but now records as Dntel, the Postal Service creates bedroom electronica with surprising emotional pull on GIVE UP. Ten tracks lyrically convey both a youthful ennui and the nostalgic ache of longing. Tamborello creates a tense sonic space that allows Gibbard's spare yet careful guitar to occasionally chime in and cut the tension.
While Tamborello's sculpted electronics hearken back to the minimalism of early Depeche Mode, Gibbard's expressively fey vocals and emotional sentiments lend a warm, comforting contrast to themachine-age chilliness (as do the occasional backing vocalsfrom Jen Wood and Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis). This contrast is best illustrated on "We Will Become Silhouettes", when Gibbard sings "[A]nd we become silhouettes when our bodies finally go", only to be followed by a string of optimistic bleeps that are the sonic equivalent of a miniature sky full of twinkling stars.

Customer Reviews

Pure brilliance
If you are in any doubt about buying this album do so now. I have only had it two days and it has been on constantly at home, at work and in my car since I got it. Jimmy Tamborello has excelled himself and the tracks are fantastic. Ben Gibbard's vocals enhance the mood of each track perfectly and his lyrics tell some amazing stories. Every track is fantastic with the album starting off on a bouncy happy footing with the last three tracks showing a darker side of this duo. Such great heights and Clark Gable are stand out tracks for me but really its just a stand out album all the way through.
Buy this album, buy it now!

Don't wake me...
An intriguing history surrounds the fractured completion of the debut album from avant-garde elctronic outfit the Postal Service. Written by Ben Gibbard of Seattle noise-monkeys Death Cab For Cutie, and bolted on to a wilfully glitchy tapestry of stuttering beats and sweeping faux-string arrangements by Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel), it really shouldn't hold water as a concept. The fact that it became one of the biggest triumphs of 2003 is some testament to the vision of its twin creators, and particularly the blossoming songwriting talent of Gibbard, who manages to cover everything in a thin veil of mystery with his enigmatic lyrics and little-boy-lost vocals.

Give Up starts on a high with the wistful District Sleeps Alone Tonight, Tamborello's soundscape perfectly echoing the happy-sad ambiance created by Gibbard's mournful vocals and sing-song melody. Better still is Such Great Heights, a perfect fusion of electro-pop and prickly Drum n Bass-lite beats, coupled with a soaring melodic streak. It leaves the starstruck listener smiling from cheek to cheek, a mood broken only by the haunting Sleeping In, an emotional account of the shooting of JFK with a nagging, plaintive vocal hook that won't leave your head for days.

After this breathless opening, the Service drop down a gear with a clutch of pretty, ever so slightly less memorable tunes - each worthy of attention, if perhaps a little less adulation than the first three. However, the bar is raised once more for the last two tracks: Brand New Colony an infectious slice of skittery elctronic pop, and the closing Natural Anthem a brooding, paranoid walk through the darkest recesses of Tamborello's mind. Truthfully, this is one of the best records to emerge from last year, and its lack of ubiquity can only be explained by poor-marketing on the part of their record label, a heinous crime meaning that this daring, brilliant record was heard only by a lucky few. Join us.

Don't "Give Up"
The Postal Service had an unusual start. No, not THAT postal service, but the unique band that turned out the indie-electronic "Give Up."

It's the sort of band story that magazines love: Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello exchanged tapes through the mail, sculpting sweet, melancholy trip-hop into this enchanting, low-key pop masterpiece.

It starts off on strong footing with the melancholy, angelic-voiced "District Sleeps Alone Tonight" with its solemn organ opener. The second song is even stronger -- the sparkling, upbeat "Such Great Heights," an adoring love song from a guy to his on-the-road girlfriend. "They will see us waving/from such great heights/come down now!/they'll say/but everything looks perfect from far away..."

With such a great opener, the rest of the album is almost garuanteed to be lackluster. But Gibbard and Tamborello manage to keep the quality up with the delicate "Sleeping In," ethereal "Nothing Better," and the dreamily majestic "Recycled Air" with its backdrop of string-like synth. "Give Up" ends on a slightly darker note with the dark, grittier "This Place is a Prison" and the fast-paced but strange "Brand New Colony," before finishing off with the magnificently cacophonous "Natural Anthem."

"Give Up" was originally recorded in a rather weird way, with Gibbard and Tamborello exchanging packages with recorded CDs inside. Not your typical way of making music, and some might have scoffed at this unorthodox method. But it pays off beautifully -- the melodious poppy sound of Postal Service is absolutely intoxicating. It's a perfect mix of beats, clicks, dreamy synth and sweet vocals. Gibbard's clear voice is a little sad, and contemplative, and is backed up in some songs by Jen Wood and Jenny Lewis.

The lyrics are beautiful, romantic and heartfelt ("I am finally seeing/why I was the one worth leaving..."), often evoking a slightly otherworldly feeling, not tied in with the world as we know it. It brings up dark cities, flying couples, gaudy apartments and places where things are sad and a little dreamy. The keyboard arrangements are shimmering, guitar riffs are steady and solid, and a cluster of other instruments (organ and horn) surface and vanish seamlessly.

"Give Up" both satisfies a musical hunger and leaves you wanting more. Proving that innovation is NOT dead in the music biz, the Postal Service is a fantastic breath of fresh air. Dreamy, a little depressed, but uplifting and sweet.