"Such Great Heights" (The Postal Service)

The Postal Service's Give Up (2003) was such an unlikely record that came together in an unlikely way.  Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello just happened to meet Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard through a mutual friend; Tamborello asked Gibbard to contribute vocals to what became the Dntel track "(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan" for 2001's Life is Full of Possibilities; and they found the process of working together so effortless that Gibbard suggested they collaborate again in the future.
So between working on new Dntel music, Tamborello (who's based in L.A.) began creating backing tracks and sending them to Gibbard (who's based in Seattle) on CD via the U.S. Mail.  And when Gibbard wasn't busy working on music for Death Cab for Cutie, he'd take a few days to absorb the backing tracks, write lyrics, and then cut vocals/make edits, eventually mailing his contributions back to Tamborello.
In the 2013 documentary Some Idealistic Future, which commemorates the 10 year anniversary of Give Up's release, Tamborello describes the ease with which the project came together over the course of 2002.
"We really didn't send stuff back and forth very many times.  I'd send him the basic idea, and then he'd cut little bits out or move parts around or repeat parts that he wanted to sing on, and then send me back a guide track with his vocals."
Such was the case with the track "Such Great Heights."  One of the last tracks written and recorded for the album, the song arguably is the big "hit" from Give Up (even though it only topped out at #114 on the Billboard charts).  Thing is, it sounds like the kind of tune they would have pored over for hundreds of hours, getting every harmony, guitar lick, and synth blip just right before calling it "done."  So it's amazing to me that they created this intelligent, cliché-avoiding love song with its Lennon-McCartney-worthy melody by casually swapping ideas via snail mail.  For that reason alone, it's one of the most noteworthy singles of the 2000s.  But I'd also go so far as to call it the best pop song of that decade.

"Brand New Colony" (The Postal Service)

I don't care for Death Cab for Cutie or Dntel.  Death Cab is a little too navel-gazey and precious, and Dntel is a little too "background music for a shoe store in the Meatpacking District" for my taste.

But, take vocalist Ben Gibbard from Death Cab and producer/writer Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel, and put them together, and somehow I'm an instant fan.

It's funny, because the formula for The Postal Service contains elements that define Gibbard's band and Tamborello's project: introspective (almost too clever for their own good) lyrics, wispy vocals, electronic beats, and layered textures.  But there's a bouncier feeling to The Postal Service's music overall.  I think the buoyant feel on Give Up was born of the novel way that Gibbard and Tamborello worked on the album: Tamborello writing and recording music tracks, sending the tapes to Gibbard through the US Mail, and then Gibbard adding his contributions and vocals before mailing the tapes back to Tamborello. 

There's a kid-on-Christmas-morning kind of feel to every track that makes Give Up so compelling and makes you want to revisit it, time and time again.

One of my favorite tracks is "Brand New Colony."  From the Nintendo-nostalgia 8-bit synth that opens the track to the skittering drums that drive the first half and the heart-on-sleeve vocals from Gibbard (and Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis) over perfectly-placed ambient loops and samples, the song leaps from your speakers with innocent abandon.  (These days, every time I hear them singing about running away to start a "brand new colony," I can't help but picture the wide-eyed misfit kids from Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom for some reason.)

I also love the shift to the slinkier trip hop beat on the latter half of the track.  It ends the song on an unexpected, yet perfect, funky note.