Seventeen years ago, The Postal Service released one perfect album before dissolving. Featuring Death Cab for Cute frontman Ben Gibbard, Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis and Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel, the group’s 2003 LP Give Up is an undisputed indie-rock classic that anyone who was of college age in 2004 can still sing every word to.
It is thus very exciting that The Postal Service just teased a new project to be revealed on Wednesday. In a 17-second clip posted to social media, a sax-heavy muzak version of the group’s biggest hit, “Such Great Heights,” plays in the style of conference-call waiting room music, with the text “Your Meeting Will Begin Tomorrow 10.7.20.”
Whatever’s coming will be The Postal Service’s first release since 2014, when they dropped the concert film Everything Will Change, recorded at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., as part of the tour behind the 10-year anniversary of Give Up.
A version of “We Will Become Silhouettes” recorded at that same Berkeley show appears on Good Music to Avert The Collapse Of American Democracy, Volume 2, a 77-song compilation with music by Andrew Bird, Mark Ronson, My Morning Jacket and many more released last week in support of the voting rights organization Voting Rights Lab.
In August, Gibbard also performed “Such Great Heights” as part of the Democratic National Convention’s #TeamJoeSings series, playing in support of the actual United States Postal Service, which was foundational to the creation of Give Up given that Gibbard and Tamborello made the music by passing CDs to each other through the mail.
