Ben Gibbard has butterfingers lately. No, I'm not accusing him of having an affection towards a particular candy bar, I'm refering to his ability to maintain musical quality. The newest Death Cab album is being met with mixed responses from critics, unlike their previous efforts which gathered an admirable amount of critical acclaim.
Not only can that be said looking at Gibbard related releases as wholes, but on the Postal Service's debut LP, Give Up, you can begin to hear the pieces of the album begin to fall to the ground track by track, until it completely gives away and comes shattering to the ground. Not to put all of the fault on Gibbard, his partner in crime, IDM maestro Jimmy Tamborello(Dntel, Figurine), fails to act as a load bearing wall, and that adds to the collapse. Did I fail to mention Rilo Kiley cutie pie Jenny Lewis is on keyboards and doing background vocals? I suck. I love her. Alright, my love for Jenny is going to make me start off with the positive.
Ok, I lied. The reason I'm starting off with the positive isn't because of Jenny, but because the album itself starts off with the password. The album's crown jewel comes right off the bat with "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight". This is actually a great song. That's probably why I'm so hard on the record, because I see just how capable Gibbard, Tamborello, and Lewis are as a band. Everything in this song is building, Gibbard's vocal melody, the beat, the keyboards, even the NES-inspired sounds Tamborello conjures up. It's one of the most moving pop songs of the year, and is as good as the best of Death Cab, Dntel, and Rilo Kiley's work. After this song, though, a piece falls off. "Such Great Heights" has a less captivating offering from Tamborello, but the beat and tones are still strong. Gibbard's lyrics starting to head south into mediocrity is the first part of the ship to go, causing the rest to slowly deteriorate away, until it sinks into the ocean blue. The next song, "Sleeping In", is the last truly redeemable song on the record. Gibbard's lyrics have become a lost cause at this point, the entire first verse is almost shameful. The great melody and Tamborello try their best to hold the song, and they succeed for one last time, and it manages to be the last time you feel like you're listening to intelligent pop music.
The ironically titled "Nothing Better" marks the beginning of the cheesy background music this record turns into. The duet between Ben Gibbard and Jen Wood sounds something like Animotion colliding with Sweet Valley High. For the rest of the record, Tamborello seems to be digging deep to finish out the album. The charming video game music and beats that Tamborello has become known for begin to act as nothing as a leaky raft that carries the obviously Dawson's Creek inspired lyrics of songs like "Clark Gable" and "Brand New Colony". The last track, "Natural Anthem", almost sounds like a reject from Life is Full of Possiblities at times, blending a snare assaulting beat and a noisier, less Super Mario friendly melody. Gibbard's lyrics are still scraping bottom, but at least they've climbed higher than the "let's make a movie or something so we can, like, make out" themed lyrics of previous tracks, "I'll write you a song and i hope that you won't mind/because all the names and places i have taken from real life/so please don't get upset at this portrait that I paint/it may be a little biased, but at least I spelt your name right".
I like Give Up, honestly. It's got allure, I can't deny. If you happened to catch our dissapearing "Best of the Year So Far" feature, I even had this record in my top 5 of 2003 by June 1st. Time and more listens just made the cracks in this record widen and lengthen until I had to tiptoe to safety. "District" is still one of my favorite pop songs of the year, "Such Great Heights" and "Sleeping In" are well-crafted songs in their own right. I just can't speak the same praise of the album, and I must admit that I cannot think of another album that's piece-by-piece deconstruction is so audible in its music.
