The Postal Service - Give Up (CD 2003)

Give Up is the the debut album from "The Postal Service" an American Electro band and quite frankly the record is fantastic.

The Postal Service as a group were created after an unplanned meeting between Ben Gibbard lead singer of Seattle based indie rockers "Death Cab for Cutie" and "Dntel" meastro Jimmy Tamborello. It was the written and recorded using post (Snail Mail), hence the name "The Postal Service".

It is recorded with the beautiful backing vocals of Jenny Lewis. Jenny Lewis is a wonderful addition to the album's already gorgeous sound. Though simply backing Gibbard in all songs bar the brilliant Nothing Better she offers a very soft, mellow sound to each song and is essential in creating Recycled Air's swirling beauty.

The album highlights are most definitely opener "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight", which captures very powerfully the feeling of being alone in the city. A real mover as well, it really sets a high standard for the rest of the album. Such Great Heights is a poppy song, catchy as hell and a fantastic single. We Will Become Silhouettes is also, a wonderful piece and definitely a favourite of mine. The last three songs of the album suffer from not being quite as good as the beginning of the album, so far to the extent that Natural Anthem could almost be commented on as being too much with a lot almost distorted beats sounding almost drum and bass like, but they are not below par in any sense; you simply ignore them because of the more exceptional material, which isn't really a surprise.

The singles released so far; "Such Great Heights", "District Sleeps Alone Tonight" and "We Will Become Silhouettes" offer a good selection of remixes to go with the previous releases and also the bonus tracks such as "Be Still My Heart" from "We Will Become Silhouettes". All in all the album is a great to listen to as its ambient electronic vibes convey the feelings and emotions around being in love. Good lyrics well worth a listen to.

I bought my copy of the CD from Amazon.co.uk for £7.99 and got free delivery as I bought some books at the same time too, which took my order over £19 and Amazon.co.uk offer free delivery on that condition. It is available online from various places ranging from £6.99 through to around £15 but can probably be bought in the shops for around £10. Ebay sales range from £1.00 upwards.