The Postmarks have been going places since last year’s release of their self-titled full-length debut (QRO review), with the Miami trio even adding full-time bassist and keyboardist. And that grander ambition holds true on By the Numbers, despite it being a collection of cover songs. The Postmarks more than redo, they reinvent and reinterpret their cover material to fit their own beautiful, orchestral ways.
Still, Numbers is notable for having singer Tim Yehezkely’s vocals more prominent than on Postmarks, but that is more due to the material picked, like opener “One Note Samba” (by Antonio Carlos Jobim). The piece is made even littler and more harmonious in the hands of The Postmarks. However, most of the tracks keep a high orchestral nature, even as they are lead by Yehezkely’s voice. Sometimes that gives a piece an extra element, like the non-rasta take on Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” or turning The Ramones’ “7-11” into some grand sixties girl-group pop. But other times, The Postmarks struggle to be remarkable, such as with the too-high Nancy Sinatra cover, “You Only Live Twice”, or their failing-to-grip way on The Cure’s “Six Different Ways”.
The Postmarks’ choice of songs to cover is interesting, as it ranges from the ladies of yesteryear with Nancy Sinatra or The Pointer Sisters’ “Pinball Number Count” to sad eighties New Wave like The Cure or The Jesus & Mary Chain’s “Nine Million Rainy Days”. And there are total reinventions, like “Three Little Birds” or their ultra-grand version of The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” (even if it is inferior to punk icon Hüsker Dü’s cover…). But their finest might be with artists who were breaking creative ground, such as a peppy, bright take on Blondie’s “11:59”, with solidly reverbed vocals. And their pick of David Bowie’s “Five Years” is their best: a great song, but not an obvious Bowie pick, it is still reinterpreted well as The Postmarks keep the space-expanse of the tragically doomed lead-off track to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, but give it a pretty female voice.
Cover records are usually relatively self-indulgent throwaway releases from over-established artists, somewhere around the ‘greatest hits’ phase (notable exception: Grant-Lee Phillips’ folk renditions of eighties favorites, nineteeneighties), so this is pretty early in The Postmarks’ career for one. And while the band could have used some further honing of their own sound, they’ve transplanted it well onto others.
