text: give up give up is the first and only studio album by indie pop band the postal service , released on february 19 , 2003 through sub pop records . the band began as a side project between electronic music artist jimmy tamborello and death cab for cutie 's vocalist ben gibbard . the two had previously worked together for a track on 's album life is full of possibilities . the postal service 's only full - length release , give up was the second sub pop records release to receive platinum certification , their best selling album since nirvana 's bleach . the album peaked at # 114 on the u.s. billboard 200 album chart in its initial release ; the 2013 tenth - anniversary reissue of the album peaked at # 45 in april 2013 . as of january 2013 , give up had sold 1 . 07 million copies . the album was generally well received , and critics commented on its throwbacks to the eighties new wave genre . production and composition the postal service 's two members – ben gibbard of death cab for cutie and electronic music artist jimmy tamborello – had previously collaborated on " ( this is ) the dream of evan and chan " before deciding to record a full - length album together . the two worked on the album separately ; in december 2001 , tamborello sent a cd - r of electronic music to gibbard , who added melodies and wrote lyrics . he then added drums , guitar and keyboards at death cab for cutie guitarist chris walla 's recording studio and sent the cd back to tamborello . this process of mailing each other their work on the album continued ; after ten months and two trips by gibbard to los angeles to record vocals , the album was completed . the group called themselves " the postal service " because of this method of trading ideas . rilo kiley 's jenny lewis provided backup vocals after being cold called by gibbard , who knew her when rilo kiley was on the same label as death cab for cutie . give up primarily deals with themes of love , as well as fame , history , and friendship . " clark gable " is about gibbard making home movies with an ex and " nothing better " is a duet between a couple about to break up . allmusic 's heather phares compared " nothing better " to the human league 's " don 't you want me ? " and gibbard later confirmed that " don 't you want me ? " was the inspiration for the song . gibbard said that " the district sleeps alone tonight " , " brand new colony " and " this place is a prison " were the only songs that bordered on autobiographical . he went on to say that " such great heights " was the only song he had ever written that was positive about love . critics compared it to the eighties synthpop and new wave genres . pitchfork media 's matt lemay and phares both commented on the contrasts between the " cool , clean synths " and gibbard 's vocal melodies . phares went on to liken " this place is a prison " to björk 's recent works . death cab for cutie had previously covered björk 's " all is full of love " on their the stability ep . release and promotion give up was released february 19 , 2003 on sub pop in the u.s. it was later released in the uk on april 23 , 2003 . as of december 2007 , it had sold over 900 , 000 copies . it was awarded a platinum certification on october 4 , 2012 , the second sub pop record to do so . the album led to three singles ; " the district sleeps alone tonight " , " such great heights " and " we will become silhouettes " , of which only " we will become silhouettes " charted , reaching 82 on the billboard hot 100 . the band toured the u.s. from april to august 2003 , including jenny lewis in the line - up for all but one of the performances . lewis provided vocals as well as guitar and keyboards . in the sole performance that lewis missed , a festival in spain , friend joan hiller sang and chris walla played her guitar and keyboard parts . death cab for cutie bassist nick harmer was in charge of the tour 's visuals . tamborello later said in an interview that gibbard had been nervous about touring , as the audience may have been bored by what they saw as " a guy with a computer onstage " . this was partly the motivation for using visual effects such as videos and lights , which included small films for each song . controversies in january 2006 , apple released an advertisement for the imac that was said to be very similar to the postal service 's video for " such great heights " . some created videos that played the advertisement and the music video side by side to make the resemblance clear . it was later revealed that the advertisement had been created by the filmmakers who had made the music video . ben gibbard said on the band 's website : it has recently come to our attention that apple computers ' new television commercial for the intel chip features a shot - for - shot recreation of our video for ' such great heights ' made by the same filmmakers responsible for the original . we did not approve this commercialization and are extremely disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation or consent . the band did not take legal action , but tamborello later stated in an interview that they " got a little bit of compensation from them for it " in the form of " attention from itunes and stuff like that " . the united states postal service served the band with a cease and desist letter citing tarnishing and dilution of their trademark . the band initially considered renaming themselves , but eventually came to a settlement that involved the band playing at a conference and the sale of the album in the usps online store . tamborello later said of their conference performance : it was really weird . when we found out we had to do it , it was really depressing , and it kind of freaked me out . i already don 't like flying , and flying to play a show for people who probably aren 't going to care – we only played two songs – it just seemed like a crazy trip . but then when we did it , and it ended up being kind of fun . critical reception give up was generally well - received by music critics . it holds a score of 79 out of 100 on review aggregate site metacritic , indicating " generally favorable reviews " . matt lemay of pitchfork media called the album " a pretty damned strong record , and one with enough transcendent moments to forgive it its few substandard tracks and ungodly lyrical blunders " . will hermes of entertainment weekly wrote that " ben gibbard radiates claustrophobia , so the shut - in synth - pop of this side project fits him like a leotard " , calling give up " the near - perfect pop record that 's eluded his main group . " the village voice 's robert christgau praised its " staying power " and felt that " gibbard 's delicate voice matches the subtle electro arrangements far more precisely than it does the folky guitars of his real group " . heather phares of allmusic felt that while give up did not measure up to either gibbard or tamborello 's main projects , it was nonetheless " far more consistent and enjoyable than might be expected . " michaelangelo matos of rolling stone described the album as " a cuddly little new wave reverie " and wrote that " tamborello 's delightful pings and whistles fit gibbard 's whimsy perfectly . " devon powers of popmatters remarked that " like any worthy match , the coming together gives each aspect assets that they 'd be wont to find otherwise " , concluding that the album " integrates the human and the humanoid to give soundtrack to the disconnected , yet earnest escapades of contemporary emotional life . " online music magazine pitchfork media placed give up at number 104 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s . rolling stone ranked the album at number 86 on their list of the 100 best albums of the decade . track listing all songs written and composed by the postal service . the vinyl version of give up was released on november 9 , 2004 and featured a bonus 12 " of b - sides , covers and remixes , all of which can also be found on the such great heights and the district sleeps alone tonight eps : in february 2013 , sub pop announced that a tenth anniversary edition of give up would be released , featuring fifteen bonus tracks , including two newly recorded songs . charts certifications personnel benjamin gibbard – lead vocals , lyrics , guitars ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 , 9 ) , additional keyboards ( 2 , 7 ) , electric piano ( 8 ) , drums ( 6 , 8 , 9 ) jimmy tamborello – programming , accordion ( 8 ) , additional keyboards ( 8 ) , electric drums , production , glitching chris walla – piano ( 4 ) , production jenny lewis – backing vocals ( 1 , 3 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 ) jen wood – backing vocals ( 2 ) , vocals ( 4 )