 The Postal Service 's two members – Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and electronic music artist Jimmy Tamborello – had previously collaborated on " ( This Is ) The Dream of Evan and Chan " before deciding to record a full @-@ length album together . The two worked on the album separately ; in December 2001 , Tamborello sent a CD @-@ R of electronic music to Gibbard , who added melodies and wrote lyrics . He then added drums , guitar and keyboards at Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla 's recording studio and sent the CD back to Tamborello . This process of mailing each other their work on the album continued ; after ten months and two trips by Gibbard to Los Angeles to record vocals , the album was completed . The group called themselves " The Postal Service " because of this method of trading ideas . Rilo Kiley 's Jenny Lewis provided backup vocals after being cold called by Gibbard , who knew her when Rilo Kiley was on the same label as Death Cab for Cutie . 
