December 11, 2007
Ocean Drive

TIM YEHEZKELY
25, Taurus
Singer

It might surprise you to discover the next great American talent is a chemistry student at FAU in Boca. It surprises her, too. “I write songs for fun but never thought I’d wind up in a hit band receiving international attention.”

Tim Yehezkely—whose first name isn’t abbreviated and often gets her mistaken for a boy—may have inadvertently stumbled into her gig as the silky-voiced chanteuse of The Postmarks, but the nouveau-pop trio scored huge with their eponymous debut, praised in Spin as “enchanting and multidimensional” and hailed by the on-line music authority Pitchfork Media as “a contender for Album of the Year.”

Born in Tel Aviv and raised in South Florida, Tim admits her musical leanings began in the fourth grade, when a penchant for “strange instruments” fed her childhood dreams of becoming an oboe player. “I got braces, so I gave up the oboe, took up guitar and taught myself how to play accordion and piano. I wrote my first song when I was 13 for a band called Gilligan’s Bitch.” At 21, she braved the stage at open-mic night and caught the ears of musicians Jon Wilkins and Christopher Moll. “On that fortuitous evening The Postmarks were born.”

Recorded wholly in Coral Springs, the album combines the instrumental erudition of French pop with simple melancholic lyrics, served up blissfully by Tim’s charming vocals. It’s the perfect companion for mending broken hearts on rainy Sunday afternoons, music inspired by “falling in and out of love, movie soundtracks, and everything French.”

Her success—her band is set to release their sophomore offering, a collection of covers—has not persuaded Tim to abandon dreams of becoming a pharmacist and changing the world. “I study chemistry because I want to understand the fundamental laws of the universe. If I can make the world a better place, even in a tiny way, then I’m fulfilling my purpose.”