The Postal Service are going on indefinite hiatus after their ‘Transatlanticism/Give Up’ tour ends

17 September, 2024

Jenny Lewis and Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service perform

The Postal Service have announced that they are going on an indefinite hiatus following the conclusion of their current tour – find out more below.

The Ben Gibbard-led band announced the hiatus on social media last night (September 16), confirming that they’re going on a break after their final show at the HFStival in Washington, DC on September 21. You can get tickets to their final show here.

Ben wrote in a statement: “As we bring the ‘Transatlanticism/Give Up‘ tour to a close, I want you all to know that getting the opportunity to perform these two albums live has been one of the greatest thrills and honors of my entire life. On behalf of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service; Thank you so much for coming out and singing along.”

Gibbard signed off: “We will see you all again somewhere down the road.”

Gibbard’s two bands The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie have been on a joint co-headlining tour to celebrate the 20th anniversaries of ‘Transatlanticism’ and ‘Give Up’ since 2023.

‘Give Up’ marks The Postal Service’s only studio album to date, while the tour is the second time the group have reformed; they first reunited in 2013 for the album’s 10th anniversary. In 2020, the band released their only live album, ‘Everything Will Change’.

The Postal Service’s hiatus isn’t entirely surprising though, as Gibbard has been vocal about the band likely never releasing new material. He said in a chat with NME last month: “I think the main reason that a second Postal Service record has never come to fruition – and will never come to fruition – the time commitments that Death Cab ended up taking, which really started with ‘Transatlanticism’, haven’t really ever let up. There’s just not enough time, let alone creative juices flowing, to make a suitable follow-up [to ‘Give Up’]. I think anything that we would attempt to make at this point would be thoroughly disappointing.

Jenny Lewis and Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service perform at MVP Arena on May 03, 2024 in Albany, New York. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
Jenny Lewis and Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service perform at MVP Arena on May 03, 2024 in Albany, New York. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

“The stakes are just lower [in Death Cab] when you’re putting an album out every two to three years. If people don’t like this one, there’ll be another one later. But after 20 years, there is no way we could ever follow that up in a way that would be satisfying to people. I would rather have all my focus on Death Cab than be watering both projects down. I just don’t have the capacity to do both. Some might argue I barely have the capacity to do one!”

Meanwhile, Death Cab For Cutie released their newest album ‘Asphalt Meadows‘ two years ago. In a four-star review of the LP, NME called ‘Asphalt Meadows’ “as assured and stately as you’d expect and hope for from indie veterans now 10 albums and 25 years into their career, but this beaut is as consistent and satisfying as their early-mid ‘00s career peak. Here are a band still very much in love with what they do.”

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