This Album Changed My Life: The Postal Service – Give Up (2003)

I was a kid when I first heard this record. I was mostly listening to Nirvana and attempting to play guitar in my first bands. I believe I was sent an MP3 of Such Great Heights over MSN Messenger. It seemed so magical, I imagined it was created in a laboratory. It led me to so many life-changing artists and it was also the first album to pique my interest in recording music.

I remember trying to convince the family PC to emit something resembling music – plugging in half-broken headset microphones, trying to work out how to play a keyboard and staring blankly at a thing called Ableton Live.

It inspired me that the record was probably created with little more than that (and some lovely synthesisers). This is all pretty commonplace in 2018 but back then I was just dreaming I could figure out how to make songs like that one day. It was a lush world to get lost in.

Listening now, some of the songs about relationships feel dated and vain but in Recycled Air and We Will Become Silhouettes, I see a hopefulness that wins out over bleakness and anxiety that I also recognise in our songs.