The Postal Service

The Postal Service

Essential Albums

  • Give Up (Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition)

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Live Albums

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About The Postal Service

The Postal Service was a short-lived, much-loved electro-pop collaboration between Ben Gibbard of the indie-rock band Death Cab For Cutie and electronic music producer Jimmy Tamborello, aka Dntel. • Prior to The Postal Service, Gibbard guested on Dntel’s 2001 track “(This) Is the Dream of Evan and Chan.” • After deciding to make music together, the pair established a creative process that involved sending CDs back and forth through the mail—hence the band name. • The duo’s first and only album, Give Up, arrived on the famed Seattle indie label Sub Pop in 2003. By 2004, it had become the second-highest seller in Sub Pop history, after Nirvana’s Bleach. • Iron & Wine’s acoustic cover of the single “Such Great Heights” appears on the soundtrack of the 2004 film Garden State. • In 2005, the original Postal Service version of “Such Great Heights” was certified gold. Give Up went gold in 2005 and platinum in 2012. • As The Postal Service gained popularity, they received a cease-and-desist from the US Postal Service. The parties eventually struck an agreement wherein the band would promote the USPS and perform at the postmaster general’s annual conference. • After some initial touring around the album’s release, The Postal Service went on a hiatus for the remainder of the 2000s. All the while, Give Up gained new fans and grew in stature. • In 2013, The Postal Service released a 10th anniversary edition of Give Up featuring rarities and unreleased songs. Gibbard, Tamborello, and indie singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis, who sings on Give Up, toured that year and announced the group’s disbandment at the end of the run.

ORIGIN
Seattle, WA, United States
FORMED
2001
GENRE
Electronic

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