13 Bands You Didn't Realise Were One Album Wonders
11. The Postal Service
Comprised of Death Cab for Cuties Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, otherwise known as the wonderful Dntel, The Postal Service are the polar opposite of Late of the Pier. Give Up is chock full of lilting, breezy melodies and synth lines you can wear like a goddamn robe. Its bursting with little bleeps and blops like the cheery robot companion in a sci-fi comedy and the whole thing crackles like a campfire. There are tiny splurges of static that fire off from the beats like charged neurons as Give Up wraps your brain in a cloud of wobbly opiates. Anyone who's ever listened to Death Cab for Cutie will know what Gibbard's lyrical content will be about but with Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis providing backing vocals, Give Up is as catchy as it is delicate. On the back of this album, The Postal Service carried the synth pop banner pretty much on their own for a decent period of time before handing it off to Owl City, but for a while it was Sub Pops best-selling album since Nirvana. Not bad for a side project.
