Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard: New The Postal Service Music ‘Would Be A Disappointment’

Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service made emo dreams come true when they announced that the two bands would tour their seminal 2003 records, Transatlanticism and Give Up, respectively, later this year.

However, in a new interview on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast, Ben Gibbard, the singer/songwriter of both bands, revealed that new music from The Postal Service “would be a disappointment”.

Elaborating further, the Passenger Seat singer said, “Anybody who’s been asking a second Postal Service record, like really ask yourself, after 20 years, do you really think that there’s gonna something we could make that could even satisfy half of the desire you have in your mind as to what this record would be like?

“Twenty years — a lot of technology has changed. A lot of how we make music has changed dramatically since then. It wouldn’t be the same.”

He continued, “I think often when we think about the music that we love the most and the eras of a certain artist or a band that we love the most, we’re as much thinking about the sound.

“It’s not just the songs or how you were driving around in high school listening to it, wishing you could be anywhere other than the town that you’re living in — it’s the sound of it. Whatever we would make now would sound dramatically different than what we made 20 years ago, and I think it would be a disappointment even if we tried.”

Listen to the rest of the podcast episode here.

This year marks 20 years since Death Cab For Cutie released their perfect fourth album, Transatlanticism. Give Up, The Postal Service’s only album, was also released in 2003. The two groups will celebrate the anniversaries by playing the albums in full. 

The Postal Service haven't performed live in over a decade. Gibbard, Jenny Lewis, and producer Jimmy Tamborello will reprise the group's roles and perform your favourite songs, Such Great Heights and We Will Become Silhouettes.

The Death Cab For Cutie lineup will include Gibbard, Nick Harmer, Dave Depper, Zac Rae, and Jason McGerr. Gibbard said about the creative year that was 2003: "I know for a fact I will never have a year again like 2003. The Postal Service record came out, Transatlanticism came out. These two records will be on my tombstone, and I’m totally fine with that. I’ve never had a more creatively inspired year."

Death Cab For Cutie released their brilliant tenth album, Asphalt Meadows, earlier this year. The record saw the longstanding indie rock/emo group push themselves sonically and achieve a new creative peak 25 years into their career.