Live Review: FLASHBACK: The Postal Service 'Such Great Heights'

I have the urge to just write out all the lyrics to this song instead of making it a flashback. It's because I love love love this song from their debut and only LP, Get Up, and I hum it softly to myself whenever I feel lonely. It's a piece of electronic wonder bliss and is a perfect ode to love on the road. I see you, THE POSTAL SERVICE, waving from 'Such Great Heights.' The album actually ended up being label Sub Pop’s most successful release since Nirvana’s Bleach. That’s cray cray.

Producer Jimmy Tamborello joins Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard for this electro side project, THE POSTAL SERVICE. It unfortunately only lasted for one album's worth of elaborate angst-ridden soundscapes. And these soundscapes were created over the post, with Tamborello writing the instrumentals and Gibbard adding vocals and editing as he saw fit. Cray cray-er still is the fact that they were sent a cease and desist letter from the United States Postal Service (USPS). Trademark issues. However, they negotiated and got to keep the name, so long as they performed at the USPS National Executive Conference.

Put on your astronaut suit so you can be more like these fine fellows in this fine clip. They’re doing high-tech science stuff! Look at all the futuristic technology and the way they glance lustily at each other! That’s a video clip there. That’s a space-age, from great heights video clip. Get it? Because no one can see you waving from great heights if you’re all the way up in the stars!

And if you think you’ve seen it before, it’s probably because you have. The filmmakers made a commercial for Apple and Intel using similar footage. And they got away with it. But y’know, Gibbard was mighty disappointed in them.

The weird part about this clip as that no one makes out with anyone. What kind of a love song is this? It serves as a reminder to keep your romance sterile. And in slow motion. Teehee.

Take a listen to this here bluegrass cover from Iron & Wine. A pretty interesting take on the track:

Words by Hannah Story.

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