Formed in Beirut in 2012, Postcards have spent more than a decade evolving between dream pop, shoegaze, post-punk, grunge and noise, while remaining deeply connected to the city and its realities. Their latest album, RIPE, takes a darker and heavier turn, reflecting both personal change and the turbulent world around them.

By Sandra Pinto

After a postponed Portuguese tour, the band finally returns to present the album live. We spoke with Postcards about RIPE, Beirut’s alternative scene, creativity, resilience and what keeps them making music.

Postcards were formed in Beirut in 2012. When you look back at the early years of the band, what do you feel has changed the most: yourselves as musicians, or the way music is made in Beirut?
We changed as people, naturally. Music is always a reflection of the people who make it, where they are in their lives, how they feel about things, whether we do it consciously or not. When we started we were 18-19, now we’re in our mid-30s. So that alone is enough of a change!

Over more than a decade, your sound has moved through dream pop, shoegaze, grunge, post-punk and noise. Do you feel this evolution happened naturally, or were there moments when you consciously decided to take Postcards into new territories?
Kind of both! After the first couple of folk-y EPs we were listening to a lot of music we didn’t really know before, thanks to Fadi (Tabbal, our producer who recorded us since the beginning), also Ziad Nawfal (Radio host and founder of Ruptured Records). So naturally our taste evolved and we were more curious about new genres that represented how we felt more authentically. Also there are a lot of great experimental, post-punk and noise bands in Lebanon, from Scrambled Eggs in the 90s/2000s to this day, and a big experimental/noise scene that inspired us.

Beirut is very much part of Postcards’ identity. How much of the city exists in your music, not only through the lyrics but also through the sounds and atmospheres you create?
The city is very overwhelming, noisy, buzzing and lively. But it also has so many little quiet corners, and so much beauty. We find ourselves reflecting these extremes in our music.

You are part of an alternative music scene that remains active despite the difficulties Lebanon has been facing. How would you describe that musical community today?
It’s a beautiful community, it’s one of the main reasons we stay in Beirut. The country is very small, so Beirut is like a village – everyone knows everyone, we all play in each other’s bands, help each other out, look out for each other. There’s so many different kinds of music – from experimental, noise, electronic, rock, shoegaze, indie pop. A big part of it revolves around Tunefork Studios – the recording studio founded by our producer Fadi Tabbal, where Julia and Marwan also work.

RIPE presents a rawer, heavier and darker version of Postcards. When you started working on the album, were you aware that you were entering different territory?
At first we were just writing without really thinking of a specific direction. We ended up with a first version of the album that was more timid, with a very different feel, at the end of 2023. Then we took the artwork photo with Mohamad Abdouni (the current album cover), to prepare for a 2024 release. But we weren’t convinced, and it’s funny because that photo represented where we were in life much more than the album. So we sat down again in May 2024 and wrote a bunch of new songs – which were all much darker and more aggressive. It goes without saying that it was affected by everything we’d witnessed tese last few years – the genocide in Gaza and the war in Lebanon.

The title RIPE suggests growth and maturity, but it can also convey the idea of something about to change or reach a breaking point. What does the title mean to you?
It’s exactly that actually! Ripe means mature, we’re at a point where we’re sure of ourselves and our decision, but also at a breaking point – in Lebanese dialect the same word for Ripe (“mestwe”) means exhausted, drained. The word really encapsulates this paradox.

There is a very strong tension between beauty and discomfort throughout the album. Were you deliberately looking for that contrast?
That contrast naturally exists because life naturally holds this contrast. The discomfort and pain make joy and love all the more valuable.

The lyrics on RIPE explore feelings such as alienation, anger, loss and resistance. Is there a common narrative or experience running through the ten tracks?
The common experience is always our life and what we’re going through. The lyrics are my thoughts and a way to process my emotions at a certain stage in my life. When we were writing “Ripe” I was looking back on what we’ve been through in the last 5-6 years (revolution, pandemic, economic crisis, port explosion, wars…) and our whole lives in Lebanon really, and why we decided to stay and not leave the country.

The reality of Lebanon is inevitably present throughout the record. How do you transform such a difficult and concrete reality into music without allowing it to completely define who you are as a band?
We don’t really think of it that way. To me an album is an expression of what an artist is feeling and who they are at a certain moment in time, like an archive of a certain time period. Our albums will naturally reflect who we are and where we are at a moment in time, and Lebanon’s
reality is bound to affect everything in our lives, including our music. We never not write something or shy away from the truth.

The political dimension has become more evident on this album. Do you feel that writing about what is happening around you is a necessity, or simply a consequence of living through these experiences?
It’s a way to process what is happening around us, it’s a necessity for us maybe on a personal level.

Despite the darkness of RIPE, there is also a strong sense of resilience and hope. Where do you find that hope when the reality around you feels so unstable?
In community, in people, in love. Despite everything we’ve been through we feel grounded in the relationships – family and friends – that we have.

How does a Postcards song usually come together? Does it start with a guitar, a vocal line, lyrics, or can it emerge from any element?
It happens in many different ways. Sometimes I write the skeleton of a song on my own at home, and we arrange it as a band and take it somewhere else (Dust Bunnies for example), sometimes it starts with the 3 of us playing together (Ruins, Wasteland Rose, I Stand Corrected
etc) and the lyrics come last.

You have been working with Fadi Tabbal for many years. What does this relationship bring to the Postcards sound and to your creative process?
We’ve been working with Fadi from our very first (indie pop) single in 2013. Over the years he grew from our mentor to almost a 4th member of the band. This continued on Ripe, and his involvement really helps shape the sound of the album. We also decided together that we needed to record outside the studio, to break the habit. We made a makeshift studio in Pascal’s grandparents home (now empty), and chose to play most tracks live together, so that it had a rawer feel.

You have also been involved in projects such as Sanam and Snakeskin. What have those experiences brought back to Postcards?
Getting to be part of more experimental projects helps us grow musically and in improvisation and breathes new life into Postcards. It also makes us excited to write song-based music, which we don’t often get to do in these projects.

Your Portuguese tour was originally scheduled for March, but the shows had to be cancelled because of the situation in the region. How did you experience that moment as a band?
It was disappointing of course, but at the time we were deep in the reality of war and death and cancelling a few dates was really nothing compared to the day to day of our lives.

At the time, did you ever think that the Portuguese tour might not happen at all, or did you always hope that the dates could eventually be rescheduled?
This wasn’t on our mind. We were just living day by day, and working on the Land compilations to raise funds for the displaced.

Now, several months later, the tour has finally been rescheduled for September. How did you feel when you realised it would be possible to move forward with these shows?
We’re happy we were able to reschedule the tour, we love coming to Portugal.

After the cancellation and everything that has happened since, do these four shows in Portugal – Porto, Setúbal, Torres Vedras and Lisbon – have a different meaning for you today?
Not really.

You will finally be presenting RIPE to Portuguese audiences. Do you feel these songs have taken on a different meaning after everything that has happened over the past few months?
These songs can always be reinterpreted in different ways, for us they become more relevant with every war.

Is there a particular song from RIPE that you are especially looking forward to playing live in Portugal?
Dust Bunnies (smiles).

After RIPE, do you feel that Postcards are entering a new phase, or are you still discovering where this album has taken you?
We haven’t sat down to write in almost 2 years, and we’re very excited to. We don’t decide beforehand how we’re going to approach new music, I think it’s just a matter of sitting together and seeing what comes out!

Finally, after more than a decade of Postcards, what do you still want to discover, both as musicians and as a band?
We just want to keep making music, and finding ways of expressing ourselves and sharing it with the world. We love the art of it all.

TOUR
Porto (Lovers & Lollipops) a 24 de setembro, Setúbal (Casa da Cultura) a 25, Torres Vedras (Bang Venue) no dia 26 e Lisboa (Casa Capitão) a 27 de setembro.