Countdown to 30: My Favorite Album From 2003

 2003

Well yesterday was a little heavy. Hopefully today is a little less serious. 2003 was the year of Ben Gibbard. And this is coming from someone for whom the majority of the coming years were about Gibbard. But you'll see what I mean in a second.

My runner-up album is Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie. 

Transatlanticism was the first album by Death Cab to feature Jason McGerr on drums, and it was also a drastic sound difference from their previous albums. Earlier albums had a harder sound not even close to the ballads on Transatlanticism. The sound the band developed on the album ended up following them for at least the next three albums.

Ben Gibbard wrote the bulk of the songs, with some songs cowritten with Chris Walla and some with work from the whole band. Transatlanticism explores long distance relationships, as the title alludes to. The songs on this album are all very poetic, catchy tracks. I play "The New Year" almost every year on January 1st. It would have been my album of 2003 for sure, had that year not also been the year of...

Give Up by the Postal Service was their debut album, as well as being their only full-length album to date. During a hiatus from Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Gibbard started working with Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel) after Gibbard contributed vocals to a Dntel song. Tamborello and Gibbard worked on songs by sending CD-Rs of the tracks back and forth through the mail. That's how they decided on their name. The USPS sent them a cease and desist letter about using their name. The outcome of the legal battle is pretty hilarious, with the USPS agreeing in the end to let them use the name, and even at one point selling copies of the album on their official website.

Gibbard and Tamborello didn't know each other very well and came from very different musical backgrounds, meaning they got to know one another as they were nervously exchanging ideas via the mail. 

Jen Wood and Jenny Lewis provided backing vocals. Death Cab For Cutie guitarist and producer, Chris Walla also contributed to the album, primarily through use of Hall of Justice studios. He also played piano on "Nothing Better."  

Give Up created something of its own genre, a blend of sad indie pop and electronic music. When Owl City first came out, people pointed out similarities. There was mostly silence from those involved with The Postal Service, except for a Tweet from Chris Walla, during a thread about a lawsuit case involving Men at Work. "Related: Owl City should really consider buying Ben a pony" (Sidenote: If there's one thing I miss in this world, it's Chris Walla's Twitter. I think about it often).

The album is filled with fantastic songs. Both Gibbard's lyrics and Tamborello's beats and electronic instrumentals are effective in communicating a great deal. Several songs are strange story songs, such as "Sleeping In" and "Clark Gable." Others gave a romantic and uplifting message ("Such Great Heights").

I'm pretty sure this is 2003 but I'm honestly 
not sure.

My friend Zack introduced me to The Postal Service and I'm ashamed of how long it took me to realize Gibbard was the lead singer in both this project and Death Cab For Cutie. "Such Great Heights" was the first song I heard and it's also probably the best known on the album.

"We Will Become Silhouettes" is Gibbard's apocalyptic piece and also one of the songs my sister and I thought was a lot of fun because of the blasé attitude of the whole thing.

In film school, you have to come up with a lot of ideas, pitches, and short stories. I would always mine songs for ideas and considered "Clark Gable" before moving on to a fun. song. One of my classmates did attempt to pitch a "Clark Gable" idea though, which I noticed almost immediately and admired him for.

I could listen to any song on this album again and again, and in fact have in most cases. There are quite a few EPs out there too, all worth a listen. After their 2013 tour, Gibbard announced that they would not be releasing a second album. This one, however, speaks loudly enough.

Leaderboard engage:

Join me tomorrow for my favorite album of 2004.

Concert Review: The Postal Service in Columbus, Ohio

Anyone who became a fan of The Postal Service in the last 9 years pretty much had to accept the fact that they were never going to see them live. Ben Gibbard was busy with Death Cab For Cutie and his solo work, and Jimmy Tamborello was busy with Dntel, not to even mention sometimes-member Jenny Lewis's schedule. Interviews with Gibbard tended to squash any ideas of a reunion too. But this year, fans finally got what they wanted, and it seemed like the band didn't hate themselves too much for it.

The opener for Columbus was Advance Base, the work of Owen Ashworth from Chicago, Illinois. Advance base does not make bad music, it's just not particularly noteworthy. He managed to make almost everything sound fairly similar, including a Kris Kristofferson cover, and the only time I (and most of the crowd) got truly excited was when he began to play the intro to "Stairway to Heaven," which turned out to be only a tease, and the end of his set. The crowd was respectful at least, and Ashworth seemed able to communicate with them well.

Advance Base

The Postal Service took the stage at just after 9, opening with "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" and moving on to "We Will Become Silhouettes" and "Sleeping In," which featured Tamborello on vocals for the chorus. All three songs were performed amazingly with high energy.

They moved on to the weaker of the two songs released on the tenth anniversary edition of Give Up, "Turn Around." Despite the song being one of my least favorite Postal Service tracks, the live performance was incredibly well put-together. Jenny Lewis, whose presence and vocals had already been demanding a great deal of attention onstage, came forward to sing the Jen Wood vocal parts on "Nothing Better." The presence of Lewis onstage was incredible throughout the show. She has one of the most electrifying and (if I may say so) sexual stage presences I have ever seen.

Jenny Lewis

Next up was "Recycled Air" followed by two of my favorite Postal Service tracks, "Be Still My Heart" and "Clark Gable," both done impeccably.

They then did a cover of Beat Happening's "Our Secret," which blended well with their material. "This Place is a Prison" was slightly lower-energy than the rest of the set, simply because it's such a slow, sad song, but it worked out. A b-side, "There's Never Enough Time," came next, and then the incredible "A Tattered Line of String," another release from the reissue of Give Up. The crowd seemed pleasantly familiar with the newer song.

Jimmy Tamborello

Ben Gibbard. Photos by Erin Howard

The set closed with "Such Great Heights" and a very excellent live version of "Natural Anthem."

For the encore, the band played "(This is) The Dream of Evan and Chan," a Dntel song that Gibbard sang on, which began the collaboration between Tamborello and Gibbard, and "Brand New Colony."

The Postal Service put on an amazing show, one of the best live shows I've seen in a while. Their live sound was far more solid than I had expected from an electronic band, and they performed each song almost flawlessly, the vocals harmonizing perfectly, particularly at the close of "Brand New Colony." As contagious as the energy was, so was the happiness that seemed to radiate from the band members onstage.

If you get a chance to check them out during the remainder of this tour, I highly recommend it.

Album Review: Former Lives by Benjamin Gibbard

Benjamin Gibbard is one of those rare modern songwriters who manages to be both prolific and wonderful. Just since the inception of Death Cab For Cutie in 1997 (prior to which, Gibbard fronted a punk rock band called Pinwheel), Gibbard has had at least two major side projects (namely ¡All-Time Quarterback! and The Postal Service), not to mention his collaboration with Andrew Kenny on Home, Volume V, and work on the soundtracks for One Fast Move or I'm Gone (with Jay Farrar) and the recent remake of Arthur, amongst other things.

But Former Lives is his first full-length solo album. It's clear from the fore that this album is not like the work of his bands. Former Lives kicks off with "Shepherd's Bush Lullaby," an a capella tune apparently recorded on an iPhone. At fifty seconds long, "Shepherd's Bush Lullaby" serves more as an intro to the album than a song by itself. "Dream Song," on the other hand, is a splendidly catchy song, with much more Gibbard-esque lyrics. "Dream Song" gives way to "Teardrop Windows," the first song from this album that was made available. "Teardrop Windows" tells an interesting story, but is ultimately dwarfed by the rest of the album.

One of my favorite tracks on the album is "Bigger Than Love," which features Aimee Mann. Mann's voice compliments Gibbard's so perfectly that, at the start of the song, I almost thought Gibbard was using some vocal effects on his own voice. "Bigger Than Love" contains the gorgeous lyric, "...our house got crowded and I'd never felt so all alone," a sentiment many have tried to express, but which is nonetheless poignant in this instance.

"Bigger Than Love" is followed up by another beautiful piece, "Lily." "Lily" contains strong and elegant imagery, along with a folky melody that has touches of early country to it. Gibbard's voice is truly highlighted in this number as well, with minimal instrumentation. "Something's Rattling (Cowpoke)" is a mildly western-style piece, featuring Trio Ellas and vocals by Zooey Deschanel. Trio Ellas play a modern form of mariachi, which gives the piece its feel. Gibbard and Deschanel sing a "chorus" that's somewhere between a humming lullaby and howling, but in a smooth and graceful manner, which makes the voices into truly irreplaceable instruments.

Amongst the weaker tracks on the album is, "Duncan, Where Have You Gone?," a slow whine that could have been rejected from a Death Cab album. The tempo of the album picks back up with "Oh, Woe." Despite the positive feel, "Oh, Woe" is much in the vein of "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" by Of Montreal (rather than a song like George Harrison's "Blow Away"), calling for irrational depression to leave. The lyricism of "Oh, Woe" is terrific. Gibbard personifies the emotion, and points out the way depression touches people. He even mentions the romanticized sadness that can draw people in, by speaking of woe like a lover, "...oh, woe you caught my eye//And I thought that I'd give you a try//But you're nothing like the way you looked//in all those famous songs and books."

Another of my favorite tracks is "A Hard One to Know," a rock-ey number with smart lyrics. The chorus is catchier and stronger than that of any other song on the album. "Lady Adelaide" is a slower and softer song than "A Hard One to Know." "Lady Adelaide" tells the sad story of a woman who has become cold due to a broken heart. It features another of my favorite lines from the album, "Now she's a bird with a broken wing//She likes the ideas of things//More than what they are bound to bring." Gibbard delves deepest into country on "Broken Yolk in Western Sky," which features a pedal steel guitar played by Mark Spencer. 

The album closes on "I'm Building a Fire." "I'm Building a Fire," much like "Shepherd's Bush Lullaby," is quiet and gentle, and it features only vocals and guitar. Gibbard recorded "I'm Building a Fire" using Garageband. "Shepherd's Bush Lullaby" and "I'm Building a Fire" create lovely bookends for an already brilliant album.

Benjamin Gibbard's songwriting rarely disappoints me, so it's no surprise that Former Lives is already one of my favorite albums of the year. His melodies and lyrics are just as sharp (and, at times, cute) as ever. While I would be inconsolable if Death Cab For Cutie never put another album out, I think Former Lives and future Gibbard solo works could help treat the woulds.

 Benjamin Gibbard is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Former Lives is his debut solo album.

Former Lives can be purchased here.