Release Date: Aug 25, 2009
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: Unfiltered
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Even if Florida is known as a populous state, there’s generally something about the "Sunshine State" that can irritate even an aficionado of city life. There are the elongated highways that cross and converge to connect over long and winding plain terrains that seem to take forever to get from A to B; the high levels of humidity; and the glossy, artificial beach tans that dress some incredibly commonplace beaches. Beneath a fleeting carcass of flamingos and palm trees, a promising band from Pompano Beach dares to be different.
If the Postmarks' delightful, weather-obsessed, self-titled 2007 debut didn't quite catch fire, blame the times. As bands of musicologist types fronted by fetching lady singers go, the Miami trio doesn't quite have the cosmopolitan chic of seductive NYC labelmates Ivy nor London's dance culture-conscious Saint Etienne. Yet they're not nearly as homespun as any number of pleated-skirt, jangly indie pop acts that live or die by the tambourine, either.
The Postmarks' self-titled debut album had a quiet beauty that was founded in the trio's love of Burt Bacharach, bossa nova, and the baroque pop sounds of late-'60s bands like the Left Banke. Centered on the whispered yet powerful vocals of Tim Yehezkely, the album had a restrained, rainy-day charm that made it one of the best pop albums of 2007. After an album of covers in 2008 (By-the-Numbers), the band came back in 2009 with a decidedly different-sounding album.
On its second proper full-length album (discounting 2008's By The Numbers covers collection), The Postmarks have created epic, cinematic, multi-instrumental pop that meets every lofty ambition of its authors while remaining accessible enough to translate to the masses with its beautiful melodies and alluring soundscapes. The tone is set with the sweeping strings and ebullient horns of album opener "No One Said This Would Be Easy," and a similar grandiosity is present throughout. .