The Postal Service is a lesser known band with a widely-known lead singer. Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello came together for the one-off album, Give Up, in 2003. Gibbard, better known for his work in indie-darlings Death Cab for Cutie, does the lead vocals for this out-of-the-woodwork band. Tamborello was the producer, also working on keyboard and drums.

There is one song from this album that really sticks with me. Every time I hear it, I get chills from the opening beat. “Such Great Heights,” the second song on the album, and if you know a song by The Postal Service, it’s probably this one. While I don’t typically pick the most popular song as my favorite, I cannot help myself in this case. The song is incredible. It would be an injustice to not write about it.

From the opening beat to the calm fade out, this song is fantastic. The sound bounces back and forth in your head, the drums just flow right into your heart. When this song is played at full blast in a car, the song fills the entire space. There is nothing you can do but feel every word of this song. Not only is the sound intoxicating, the writing is superb. Ben Gibbard is a freaking poet. (Note the use of “freaking.” See “Albums I Freaking Love.” Long story short: I do not swear. Now you know this.)

A romantic at heart, Gibbard opens the song with these words: “I am thinking it’s a sign / That the freckles in our eyes / Are mirror images and when /We kiss they’re perfectly aligned” It’s a beautiful way to explain how two people can work so well, as if “God himself did make” them for each other. And when people are made for each other, how sad it is for them to be apart.

This part of the song is what really gets me. He desperately wants his girl back, to come home to him. He misses her. “And true, it may seem like a stretch, / But it’s thoughts like this that catch / My troubled head when you’re away / When I am missing you to death / When you are out there on the road / For several weeks of shows / And when you scan the radio, / I hope this song will guide you home.” This song calls out to his love. It is not clear where she is, but they have been broken apart.

Gibbard masterfully avoids the drama associated with typical ‘I miss you’ songs. He keeps it real. He acknowledges that romanticism is not always reality. He says, “They will see us waving from such great heights, / ‘Come down now,’ they’ll say / But everything looks perfect from far away, /’Come down now,’ but we’ll stay…” Not everything is perfect in their relationship. But they persist. That’s what love is. It is a choice to be with that person forever, through thick and thin.

This song has expertly crafted sounds, mixed with beautiful writing. All the makings of a fantastic song. The song also has a lot of personal importance. Give Up is one of the first albums that I listened to in its entirety. It was MY album. No one around me knew about it. I listened to on repeat from when I was twelve. Even now, I will get on a kick and listen to this album twelve time in a row. This song helped defined the hopeless romantic in mend it carries me into my current, much less hopeless ideas of love.