Review Summary: The grandfather of modern electronic pop hasn't aged a bit.
It seems like synth/electro pop is back on the rise, as a bunch of wide-eyed youngsters with electronics and snyths in hand have something to prove. And even though I've admittedly enjoyed some efforts, all this talk about electronic pop just wants me to revisit my first foray into the genre,
Give Up by The Postal Service. Featuring Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and electronic whizz Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel, this side project of the two turned out to be an incredible effort that effectively knocked the music scene on it's ear back in 2003, and it's influence can now clearly be seen due to the genre's resurgence as of late.
The main elements of The Postal Service, featuring the earnest lyrics of Ben Gibbard combined with the textured, progressive electronic elements of Jimmy Trombello, is a simple recipe for success. One doesn't have to listen long to tracks like "Such Great Heights" before being completely enveloped by the mellow, magnetic electronic sounds and crisp beats. And although everything might sound minimalist at first glance, the heart of The Postal Service is offering plenty of subtle and organized noises and sounds that engagingly fill the frame of the bigger, beautiful picture. What might be lost on the youngsters of today is their neglect of the little things, whereas The Postal Service proves that this genre flourishes due to the agglomeration of a lot of supporting, subtle noises.
The best thing about
Give Up is that when it's at it's best, the sweet-natured songs are about as powerful as a headbutt to the nose. Both "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" and "We Will Become Silhouettes" are so striking in its calm sense of grandeur, as the songs slowly evolve their rich textures while Ben Gibbard sincerely sings along with you through the plush landscapes. The girl/boy duo of "Nothing Better" really captures a sense of distress with the call-and-answer vocal structure, while the story of "Clark Gable" is both cute and sad enough to warrant another several dozen listens. Finally, "Recycled Air" and "This Place Is a Prison" both emit a colder tone, which helps accentuate the beauty of the melodies and textures even further. I must have listened to these songs at least one hundred times, and I still can't shake how incredibly sublime and skillful they are, even seven years after the fact.
But as great as the highs are, there are some slight issues with
Give Up here and there. As often as Ben Gibbard does a fantastic job with both vocals and lyrics, I find that he does tend to get a little bit too cheesy in songs like "Sleeping In", where the whole song really has a problem finding a certain feel. "Brand New Colony", although a good song, really lacks the substance of all the songs that comes before it, and comes off as being a little less laboured. And "Natural Anthem", while also being a cool little quasi-instrumental track, doesn't really fit to be the closer of the album. While these criticisms are not big flaws, there are little chinks in the armour nonetheless.
But given the alluring and attractive nature of
Give Up, it's incredibly easy to look past any faults that you may find. The boys in The Postal Service do such a good job with easing you into a bath of spongy, saturated noises and subtle, calming, catchy progressions that listening to the new wave of straight-forward electronic pop just makes you yearn for the more developed ideas of
Give Up. The Postal Service may continually be harassed to create a follow up to
Give Up, but the album is just so robust and significant today, even after seven years after it’s release, that a follow up may be completely unnecessary. If you are at all a fan of the new batch of electronic/synth pop, I whole-heartily suggest that you check out what influenced them if you haven’t already.
