The Postmarks
Cafe du Nord - May 2, 2007
review by lexicon

4 dudes and 1 meek skinny girl with stringy hair and a bad attitude. Ok, that was harsh, but really, no one in the Postmarks looked like they were having any fun! Except the drummer, who was happily pounding away, and who wins the fashion contest too, with his baby blue cowboy shirt with shoulder embroidery.

(Aha, I just noticed that Tim Yehezkely, the female lead, who was leading the Sans Affect Parade during the show, is striking a similarly bored pose on their album cover! Fascinating! Fetch that girl some drugs! Her name is Tim! What is going on with this band?!)

Speaking of drugs, listening to the Postmarks is kind of like being on drugs of the mellowing variety. They tiptoe through their dreamy chamber poppy songs about love and weather. Live, they tiptoed through their set. In fact, they said not a single word. This was a mute set! Try, "Thank you." Sheesh. I’ll even take a meek, mumbled one.

Ok, so here’s the rub: The Postmarks are actually a good band. Fitting snuggly alongside Camera Obscura, Belle and Sebastian, and Loquat in my mind, I often want to listen to, and very much enjoy, this kind of pretty music. However, I do not want to have to stare at a miserable-looking, stiff band while doing so. It’s just confusing. The music says, "I’m pretty, life is pretty, everything is rainbows and baby bottoms." The band says, "I’m sad, sad like early onset Alzheimer’s and dead pets." My amygdala just can’t take it.

But, just when I thought I’d written off their live show in general, and Tim in particular, something odd happened: The band launched into an unexpected, long, loud, crashy outro. It didn’t fit their overall sound and caused me to put my fingers in my ears, but, much higher up on the weird scale, all the fracas seemed to awaken the personality that had lay dormant inside Tim this whole time.

Suddenly, she was jumping up and down like a kangaroo – a decidedly stiff one, but still, there was movement. I was shocked. Afterward, she actually smiled. (Later, she also came out to the main floor to do a penguin-walk-dance to Memphis' "Incredibly Drunk on Whiskey." That, too, was odd.)

So perhaps this was a case of Young Band without Stage Presence. Or perhaps they are just very, very private people. Either way, I wish them well, advise Tim to practice smiling and saying "thank you" in front of her bathroom mirror, and look forward to a chance in the future to see if/how their live act has progressed (that is, provided they are opening for someone with huge personality).

posted May 03, 2007
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