A Thought - The Postal Service: "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"

Today, I rediscovered the magic that is 'The District Sleeps Alone Tonight', from the Postal Service's first and only album, Give Up. Of course, I was too young to discover the Postal Service when their album came out; I only heard and heard of them last year. They've never let me down since, with their play-count increasing every few weeks on my Ipod. What can I say, their catalogue may be short, but as the saying goes, its pretty sweet, too.
I wouldn't say that 'The District Sleeps Alone Tonight' is my favourite song by them - there are so many others (all from the one album) including 'Nothing Better', 'Clark Gable', 'The Dream of Evan and Chan', as well as, of course, 'Such Great Heights'. The list goes on.
However, this song is the one I listened to today that got me thinking, thinking about how absolutely spectacular a new Postal Service album should/hopefully would be. They've written some truly unforgettable melodies and always have a suited guitar or synth hook handy. There's a bittersweet element to their songs, especially this one, in that the music is actually quite uplifting (you know, the way Hillsong do it), but the lyrics, usually with a sense of ambiguity, tell stories with not quite as delightful endings. So, if you ever want to be lifted by the power and might of Jesus Christ, or keen for a bit of raw emotion, listen to this song and either ignore the melody or the lyrics. Your choice.
Now that I've started it, I might as well expand on the whole (unnecessary) Jesus comparison. If there's one event in the Bible that a comparison to the band could be drawn, it's the Passion Story - a largely heartbreaking event for many, though one from which a tinge of hope can be drawn for believers. 'Nothing Better' is quite like this - Ben loses Jenny, wants her back, not that she still thinks they could possibly last; this, of course, upsets him further, but hey, Ben's still got fifty or so more years of life left, hasn't he? There's always next time.
'Such Great Heights', on the contrary, is all about full, functioning love. It's been covered many times, including by Ben Folds and Iron and Wine, the version of which appeared in the film the Garden State, a film which, now, always seems to appear in the sentence as the Shins.

I could go on for a great deal longer about the band, but now that I've got a bit of a ramble out of my system, I think I'll stop here and listen to 'Recycled Air', which, like 'The District', I've just again uncovered the magic of.