Austin Town Hall

Rating:

Last year, The Postmarks threw a collection of covers out to the world, and the year before, they hit us with their self-titled debut.  Oddly, they garnered little press, though their sound, resting somewhere between early Camera Obscura and slow-jam Stars songs seems like it would be all the rage.  Will Memoris at the End of the World be the album to get the group over the hump?

When opening up with “No One Said This Would be Easy,” you start to get the feel of the band; they know it won’t be easy carving out a niche, but their destined to do it all on their own terms.  You’ll find that the string arrangements being used here will draw some to conclude that The Postmarks have a place in the land of the twee, but there seems to be some sort of solemnity underlying here, which takes it somewhere else.

“My Lucky Charm” is the group’s nod to Camera Obscura, although singer Tim Yehezkely recalls a young Jenny Lewis from long ago.  Polite horn flourishes dance in the background bring that gentle tropicalia feel to the song, perhaps an aesthetic quality ingrained in the band from their hometwon in Miami.  But when you get to “Don’t Know Till You Try” you can see a slight addition of electronic touches here and there, which is where you might get a Stars meets Headlights sort of quality.

Still, once you get to this point, you start to see one of the unfortunate drawbacks to the album as a whole.  Every song is absolutely listenable, although “Theme from ‘Memoirs'” lacks a bit as far as interest goes, all the way until the album draws to a close.  However, none of these tracks absolutely have to be listened to at any given point in time.  You could skip around; you could buy one song on iTunes; or you could ignore it altogether.  Nothing on Memoirs at the End of the World stands out to differentiate itself from other like-minded groups.  You can easily enjoy listenting to the entire album for an extended period of time, but the question begging to be asked is do you really have to listen to it?

To be frank, you don’t have to listen to it.  It’s not something you absolutely have to have in your collection, but if you do happen to find it, and you’re into bands listed above, you would do well to pick it up.  Honestly, The Postmarks made a beautiful record, just not one that is begging to be listened to over and over again. You’ll probably love it, but then again, you might soon discard it. Pick your poison.

Download: The Postmarks – No One Said This Would Be Easy [MP3]