“(This is) the Dream of Evan and Chan” is the first song produced by the collaboration of singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) and pioneering D.J. Jimmy Tamborello. It appeared on Jimmy Tamborello’s first album under the alias Dntel, as the penultimate track. The collaboration was so successful that the two geniuses later teamed up to release an entire album as The Postal Service, naming themselves after the federal agency which made their collaboration, between Los Angeles and the state of Washington, possible. (This was at a time when the Internet was still very new as a medium.)
Today, collaborations such as The Postal Service are more readily available than ever before, through the advent of websites such as itch.io. Be that as it may, human nature has not changed substantially, and some of Tamborello’s lyrics about the alienation of technology and long-distance dating remain relevant. In the midst of all of this online hostility, it is charming to hear Gibbard’s warm, cajoling vocals on “Evan and Chan”, a ballad inspired by a mystifying dream he had about fellow musicians Evan Dando (of the Lemonheads) and Chan Marshall (of Cat Power). Gibbard’s regal but nostalgic tone describes a delirious, most probably intoxicated meeting with a mysterious romantic interest at what appears to be a house party in the Pacific Northwest. It’s something straight out of a David Lynch film, minus the horror and the displays of carnal passion, conveyed over a fuzzy backing track complete with glitched effects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE9k0OhoxXA
“The Dream of Evan and Chan” remains one of Gibbard’s most lauded songs, and The Postal Service released several hit singles to both critical acclaim and neurotically redundant radio play. If in this day and age of electronic communication the U.S.P.S. ever gets desperate to market, a dropped lawsuit from 2004 might give them leeway in the use of the band’s seminal indie electropop, so you might hear such classics such as “Such Great Heights” advertising a new brand of air mail in the Age of Quarantine.
May this be a reminder that we live in strange but humorous times. May it also remind you to keep your friends close and your conspirators miles away. (Death Cab’s album Transatlanticism, as well as Figurine’s album The Heartfelt, which was produced by Tamborello, illustrate this as well.)
[({L.J.)}]