DNTEL
Dumb Luck
Sub Pop
· After nearly six years, Jimmy Tamborello returns to his original project and releases an album with some help from a variety of contributors.
Dntel began 13 years ago, an electronic pop project that saw Jimmy Tamborello noodling with ambient keyboards, bubbling synths and skittering drums. None of it pointed to the popularity that would follow from his partnership with Ben Gibbard as The Postal Service, which (for better or worse) will likely help to define this decade on future "Totally 00s!" compilations. What would Tamborello’s approach be after reaching such great heights?
While there are elements of the sounds that leaked from iPod earbuds in high schools across the continent a few years ago, especially over the first half of Dumb Luck, Tamborello returns to the free-form songwriting he pursued as Dntel. Static blips, warbling synths and bent tones abound. What the listener is left with is a somewhat dull, rarely engaging and often frustrating album of music that dabbles in a number of moods and styles without ever fully embracing them. His approach often robs his collaborators of their considerable talents, most notably Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst and, perhaps tellingly, the opening title track – penned and played by Tamborello alone – shines in its relative simplicity. Lacking the hooks and emotion that endeared The Postal Service to so many, Dumb Luck does highlight Tamborello’s knack for noisy production tricks. Sadly, it’s little more than 40-ish minutes of just that.
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