Album Info Hide Show Artist: The Postal Service Album: Give Up Released: USA, 2019 Tracklist: A1 The District Sleeps Alone Tonight A2 Such Great Heights A3 Sleeping In A4 Nothing Better A5 Recycled Air B1 Clark Gable B2 We Will Become Silhouettes B3 This Place Is A Prison B4 Brand New Colony B5 Natural Anthem Info About Buying Vinyl From Our Record Store We are a small independent record store located at 211 High St, Preston in Melbourne, Australia (North of Northcote, between Thornbury & Reservoir) We buy and sell new and used vinyl records – if you have a collection you’d like to sell please click here . We ship Australia wide for a flat rate of $10 for standard shipping or $15 for express post. Free Shipping for orders $150 and over. You can also pick up your order in store, just select Local Pickup at the checkout. We also ship internationally – prices vary depending on weight and location. We ship vinyls in thick, rigid carboard mailers with a crushable zone on either side, and for extra safety we bubble wrap the records. In stock vinyl is usally shipped next business day, please check the availability field at the top of the product page to see whether the record is currently in stock or if it is available from the supplier as well as estimated shipping times. If you order an in stock item together with a pre order or back order (listed as available from supplier rather than in stock) then the order will be shipped together when all items arrive. If you would like the in stock items shipped first please place two separate orders or contact us to arrange shipping items separately. We are strongly committed to customer satisfaction. If you experience any problems with your order contact us so we can rectify the situation. If the record arrives damaged or doesn’t arrive we will cover the cost of replacing or returning the record. If you change your mind you have 30 days to return your record but you must cover the cost of returning it to the store. You can contact our Melbourne record shop at (03) 9939 3807 or at [email protected] Happy Listening! Description Hide Show Give Up landed on 18 February 2003 like a love letter that took the long way round. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel built it piece by piece from opposite coasts, posting CDRs and song sketches back and forth. The name The Postal Service wasnt a cute metaphor, it was the workflow. Sub Pop took a punt on a side project that sounded too tender for techno and too synthetic for indie rock, and it became a generational touchstone. The opener, The District Sleeps Alone Tonight, sets the tone with skittering drum programming and a sighing vocal that tumbles into harmonies. It feels like jet lag pressed to wax. Then Such Great Heights arrives with that pinging synth figure and a melody that still sticks like blue tack. Theres a buoyancy to Tamborellos beats, little syncopated hiccups that keep the songs moving, while Gibbards lyrics stare straight at the knot of distance and devotion. The arrangements leave space for air and small gestures. A handclap here, a guitar filigree there. It is meticulous, but never fussy. The guest vocals matter. Jenny Lewis and Jen Wood slip in like characters in short stories, and Jen Woods duet on Nothing Better is the records most human tug of war. Two voices trying to rewrite the ending in real time, set against synths that tick like a kitchen clock. Clark Gable deals in cinematic yearning, complete with a sighing hook that would have sounded right at home on a C86 tape if someone had smuggled in a drum machine. Recycled Air floats, all soft pads and muffled announcements. Then This Place Is a Prison cuts through the sweetness with a hungover glare. It is the comedown that keeps the album honest. We Will Become Silhouettes could have been bleak on paper, yet it shimmers. The tension between bright surfaces and anxious subtext is the records trick. It was a big reason Give Up travelled far beyond indie circles. Iron and Wines hushed cover of Such Great Heights ended up on the Garden State soundtrack the following year, and the song slipped into cafs, weddings and late night radio. By 2012 the album had gone platinum with the RIAA, only the second Sub Pop release to do so after Nirvanas Bleach. Not bad for a project that started in the post. There is a small technical signature to Give Up that still feels fresh. The drum programming is crisp, often dry, and the synth palette leans warm rather than neon. Gibbards guitar threads through without announcing itself. You can hear the careful hands of collaborators like Chris Walla, whose additional recording and production help the songs breathe. Nothing here chases club heft. Its closer to bedroom pop upgraded with craft and curiosity. Thats why it ages well. The tech has moved on, but the songcraft keeps its shine. The 10th anniversary reissue in 2013 added two new tracks, A Tattered Line of String and Turn Around, and kicked off a victory lap that filled rooms large and small. Those shows made clear something fans had felt for years. Give Up wasnt a one-off novelty. It was a proper album with legs, the kind you pull out in a flat-share kitchen at 2am to see who sings along. I still catch that first snare patter of The District Sleeps Alone Tonight at record store listening stations and feel the same small thrill. If youre crate digging, Give Up vinyl is a rewarding pick. The low end feels a touch rounder on wax and the top end softens in a way that flatters these arrangements. The Postal Service vinyl pressings tend to be well loved in the wild, so a clean copy is worth snapping up. For anyone stocking up on The Postal Service albums on vinyl, this is the spine you want beside your Death Cab favourites. And if youre hunting from home, you can buy The Postal Service records online through plenty of local shops. Ive seen tidy copies pop up at a Melbourne record store or two, and the usual suspects in vinyl records Australia have kept the reissue in rotation. Twenty years on, Give Up still sounds like the kind of indie pop that believed in both circuitry and chemistry. A small miracle assembled by post, sealed with melodies that refuse to fade. Product Reviews Hide Show Write a Review