Postal Service man discusses forthcoming project

Dntel features Bright Eyes, Jenny Lewis

The Postal Service‘s Jimmy Tamborello is set to release his third Dntel album later this month – and it’s a star-studded affair.

NME.COM caught up with Tamborello to discuss ‘Dumb Luck’, which features collaborations with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, and Grizzly Bear, and is due out on April 24.

Tamborello dubbed the album “experimental techno-pop”, and explained how he came to collaborate with Lewis and Oberst.

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“I met Jenny (Lewis) during (the recording of) The Postal Service album,” Tamborello told NME.COM. “We live close to each other in Silver Lake so it seemed natural.”

Conor (Oberst) was friends with Jenny so I ended up hanging out with him. I had a song without vocals and asked him if he’d be interested in doing it. So he came over and recorded it – it was all pretty casual,” he said.

Tamborello said that the process for creating Dntel songs is similar to the technique he and Ben Gibbard utilise for The Postal Service.

“I send (contributors) blank instrumental tracks with no instructions, and they provide the lyrics and vocals,” he explained. “I only wrote lyrics for (the title track) ‘Dumb Luck’.”

Tamborello recorded most of the instrumentation at his house in the Silver Lake neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

“I’m still pretty lo-fi,” he admitted. “I’m more comfortable recording at my house with things not being perfect.”

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Tamborello explained why ‘Dumb Luck’ was five years in the making. “I’d get sidetracked easily doing other projects like The Postal Service,” he said.

“Also I had a lot of trouble making all the songs fit together and turning them into an album, so I put them away for a while until they all came together.”

“For a while I couldn’t figure out why I was making music and I was feeling insecure because a lot of people were listening to me because of the success of The Postal Service,” he admitted. “That’s what ‘Dumb Luck’ is about.”

Despite the challenges he faced along the way, Tamborello said he’s satisfied with the end result.

“I’m happy with how it came out and I hope other people will be too,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to figure out a new type of music. It hasn’t happened yet, but maybe someday.”

–By our Los Angeles staff.

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