We Will Become Silhouettes

Infobox Single
Name = We Will Become Silhouettes


Cover size =
Border =
Caption =
Artist = The Postal Service
Album = Give Up
A-side =
B-side = "Be Still My Heart"
Released = Start date|2005|02|08
Format =
Recorded = 2001-2003
Genre = Indie pop, Alternative
Length =
Label = Sub Pop
Writer = Ben Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello
Producer = The Postal Service
Audio sample? =
Certification =
Last single = "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"
(2003)
This single = "We Will Become Silhouettes"
(2005)
Next single =
Misc =

"We Will Become Silhouettes" was released February 8, 2005 by The Postal Service under the Sub Pop Records label. The single included a new track "Be Still My Heart" and two remixed tracks by Matthew Dear ("We Will Become Silhouettes") and Styrofoam ("Nothing Better"). The title track has been used in a Honda Civic commercial, and indie band Iron & Wine performed an acoustic cover of the track for one of the Postal Service's B-Sides, Such Great Heights.

The title song's refrain, "...and we become silhouettes when our bodies finally go", seems to be a reference to nuclear warfare, as in the aftermath of a nuclear attack, when the shadows, or silhouettes, of victims are 'burned' onto nearby surfaces. Various lyrics from the verses corroborate this theme:

cquote|I've got a cupboard with cans of food
filtered water and pictures of you
and I'm not coming out until this is all over
[...]
I wanted to walk through the empty streets
and feel something constant under my feet
but all the news reports recommended that I stay indoors
because the air outside will make
our cells divide at an alarming rate
until our shells simply cannot hold all our insides inand that's when we'll explode
and it won't be a pretty sight

The video for this song, directed by Jared Hess, consists of incongruously lighthearted footage of a family (consisting of band members Ben Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello, frequent collaborator Jenny Lewis, and two young children) playing and singing the song, then riding bicycles into the desert and, at the very end, watching the sun set in the distance. Their odd clothing, the worn down houses they pass by and abandoned streets may suggest the video takes place far in the future, post-nuclear attack.

This was the fourth CD released by The Postal Service. The cover artwork was designed by Kozyndan, who have done the previous singles as well.

The single was the band's most successful, hitting #82 on the Billboard Hot 100 [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=508421&model.vnuAlbumId=564476] .

Track listing

# "We Will Become Silhouettes" – 4:59
# "Be Still My Heart" – 3:02
# "Nothing Better (Styrofoam remix)" – 3:31
# "We Will Become Silhouettes (Matthew Dear's not scared mix)" – 5:02

External links

* [http://www.postalservicemusic.net/ The Postal Service website]
* [http://www.subpop.com Sub Pop Records website]
*AbsolutePunk.net (75%) [http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=97444 link]
*Pitchfork rating-10|4.3, [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21006/The_Postal_Service_We_Will_Become_Silhouettes_EP link]