The Postmarks - By the Numbers (2024)

South Florida pop trio the Postmarks formed in 2004 when Christopher Moll and Jonathan Wilkins, who had collaborated previously in the group See Venus, signed up singer Tim Yehezkely and began recording together. Moll and Wilkins' interest in soundtrack music, lush easy listening sounds, and orchestrated pop was a perfect fit with Yehezkely's breathy vocals and her melancholy lyrics. The group retreated to Moll's home studio in early 2005 and began recording tracks for an album. The resulting songs gained musician fans like Richard Hawley and the High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan, but more importantly for the band, Andy Chase (of Ivy) became a fan, signed them to his Unfiltered label, and went to work mixing their album. Before their full-length surfaced, however, a remix EP was released in 2006 featuring reworkings by Chase and some of his friends, like James Iha and Tahiti 80. Their self-titled debut album was released in January of 2007, and the band (bolstered for live shows by Brian Hill on bass and Jeff Wagner on keyboards) spent the rest of the year touring and raking in critical accolades. In 2008 they had the novel idea to release a new song each month (via Emusic) with each month represented by a cover version of a song with a number in it; January was "One Note Samba," February was "You Only Live Twice," and so on. In November the songs were collected on CD under the title By-the-Numbers. Meanwhile the band had begun work on their next album, Memoirs at the End of the World. Featuring the same core lineup, plus a number of guests, the album was released in September of 2009 and featured a much more elaborate and cinematic brand of indie pop that drew inspiration from '60s film music.