Fans of the supergroup The Postal Service had high expectations going into Wednesday after the band tweeted a cryptic teaser video the day before. The clip featured black and white text reading “Your Meeting Will Begin Tomorrow 10.7.20” underneath the band’s iconic header. An unfamiliar track laden with soprano sax accompanied the text, which led many followers to believe the announcement of new music was impending. A new project would come as a huge surprise, since the group has never followed up their critically acclaimed Give Up record from 2003—their only studio release. In fact, they famously performed their “very last show” in 2013 after reuniting to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the album.
However, hopes of a new release were potentially dashed as the band posted a different kind of announcement. Still, what did come proved to be a welcome—and hilarious—surprise. A new video, nineteen minutes in length, appeared with the title, “The Postal Service Zoom Auditions September 2020”.
It opens on a Zoom call with the band’s star studded trio of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), and Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel), as well as Dave from Sub Pop Records. Dave facetiously walks the band through his hopes to partner them with headcount.org and get them out for a “mask free” fall tour in an effort to encourage people to vote in the upcoming elections. The only issue is that he thinks it’s time to expand the lineup substantially—to the size of “Two and a half Polyphonic Sprees or like eight Earth Wind and Fires.”
What ensues is a hilarious series of “auditions” jam-packed with stars from across all walks of the entertainment world. Among them are familiar faces like: Anne Hathaway, Slash, Kenny G, Patton Oswalt, “Weird Al,” Duff McKagan, Rick Springfield, Huey Lewis, and many more.
Though it wasn’t the official announcement of new music we might have been hoping for, it was still nice to see the beloved band having a little fun and reminding us of our civic duty in the process. Watch the video, released in partnership with Sub Pop Records and Headcount, here!
