The Postal Service play the KeyArena tomorrow night with Big Freedia.
- AUTUMN DE WILDE
- THE POSTAL SERVICE
Since 2003, frequencies from the Postal Service have been combing the tiny hairs of our inner ears. The tamped, mechanical sieve of Jimmy Tamborello’s beats and the eased harmonies of Ben Gibbard, Jenny Lewis, and Jen Wood know our temporal lobes well. Along the nerve routes of our auditory cortex, they’ve posited the characters of their melodies. There goes Clark Gable, swimming the spiral channels of our cochlea again. Somehow, it’s not an image that ever tires—our inner ear as the London Underground, smeared with black ink. Or mirroring eye-freckles, fire escapes, and a figure in the dark who knows who shot JFK. In the recent video for “Tattered Line of String,” the Postal Service hooks us once again with their audio imagery. It’s a flip on a man at a laundromat, directed by Parisian team AB/CD/CD, where the world is washed and spun instead of his clothes. As the video ends, the man is falling up into the sky. The shot is clear and fitting—inside out, but right. To Ben Gibbard we go, as true and tranquil a troubadour as there is. When he spoke, my inner ear saw his songs.
Where are you?
Fremont. Coming at you live and direct.
Has the announcement been made about the Postal Service headlining WrestleMania IX? Playing all Molly Hatchet covers. Can I break that?
What, that we’re headlining WrestleMania? Yeah, sure, why not. Is there a halftime? We’re the halftime show. I can’t say anything about the Molly Hatchet.
I wanted to talk about your friendship with the world speed-eating champion Kobayashi. You met in Tokyo in 2006, and over the years, y’all have become super-tight?
I’d say we’re super-tight, yeah. You know, I’ve been getting into running, and marathons—right now, I’m training to do a 50K in October. And if you think about it, ultrarunning is only a step away from competitive eating. As an ultramarathoner, you’re pushing your body to achieve things that are outside the norm. Kobayashi and I have that in common. We meet up for a light lunch when we can.
