Postal Service - Such Great Heights EP
(Subpop)
This single serves as a short teaser for the hotly anticipated debut album by The Postal Service. In case you haven't been keeping careful tabs on
Pitchfork's news section, I'll fill you in: The Postal Service is a collaborative super-project with Jimmy Tamborello (of Dntel "fame") and the singer / guitarist from Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard. This single has a great, albeit strange 4 song track list. I say strange because while there is, of course, one album track and one otherwise unavailable b-side, there are also two The Postal Service covers (performed by fellow Sub Pop darlings The Shins and Iron & Wine).
The album track, "Such Great Heights," opens the CD. It's a great pairing of
Dntel's electronic pop sensibility and Ben's engaging vocal melodies. The last song is a cover of this song recorded by Iron & Wine. Before hearing this, I had never actually heard their music, though I had of course seen their name mentioned quite a bit lately. And, if their reinterpretation is any indication of their own songs, then I'll be picking up their album very soon. The upbeat, electronic pop offered by The Postal Service is transformed into a gentle, fingered-picked-on-an-acoustic-guitar ballad, sung in an aching tenor accented by thick backing harmonies.
"There's Never Enough Time" is the exclusive, non-album track. The spotlight is mostly on Tamborello for this song, as the musical melodies are much more catchy than the vocals. Ben even contributes a couple of great guitar lines halfway through, which adds a new depth to the song. The third track is the cover offered by The Shins. They recorded "We Will Become Silhouettes" from the upcoming full length. Again, the song is reinterpreted so well, that it sounds like it could have been written by The Shins (who I think are great, so that's a good thing).
Not only did this single build up (for me) the anticipation of the album, but it gave me a chance to hear an inspired offering from Iron & Wine. Not to mention the added bonus of getting another song from The Shins. Every track has a purpose, and while the two versions of "Such Great Heights" do stick out, there is absolutely no filler here.
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