Ben Gibbard on Postal Service: 'People Shouldn't Hold Their Breath' Hoping For Another Album

Ben Gibbard has made it pretty clear that he and producer Jimmy Tamborello, a.k.a. DNTL, have no intentions of making a follow up to their much beloved one-off collaboration as the Postal Service.

"There are no plans to make a second record," Gibbard told Spinner in a recent interview. "I can't say that enough."

It turns out that Gibbard, who also plays in Death Cab for Cutie, isn't that interested in making electronic music at all.

"I really enjoyed doing that record with Jimmy," he says, calling Tamborello one of his best friends. "I find that making music in computers involves a lot of mouse time... I don't have an aesthetic for that. Keeping up on new software technology, I'm not particularly interested in that."

Instead, he says he prefers playing guitar and piano, and writing in what he refers to as a more traditional methodology.

"I'm much more interested in playing music than creating it, so to speak," says Gibbard, who recently put out a solo record titled Former Lives.

As for the much-desired, phantom second Postal Service record some fans believe exists, Gibbard maintains that its legend now outstrips anything he and Tamborello could come up with.

"I think people like the idea of a second Postal Service record better than they would like the second Postal Service record," he says. "It's the desire for something one can't have, the anticipation of possessing something is more fulfilling than actually having something.

"People don't get what the Postal Service was meant to be. It was meant to be for fun. And just because it was so successful doesn't mean that we have to make another one. If there's any frustration I have with being asked that question all the time, I wish I could articulate the difference between a band and a project. A band is a living, breathing organism of people who are invested in each other in a very real way... I've done a lot of things and I haven't followed up on any of them.

Despite his annoyance, Gibbard still seems unwilling to completely close the door on the possibility of a second album, somewhat contradicting himself in the process.

"The door is not closed," he says. "But people shouldn't hold their breath. You're going to pass out if you do."