Who would have thought that Gnarls Barkley beats meet The Shins sweet indie sound would make for a seriously dynamite duet album? Well... Brian Burton and James Mercer, that's who. Danger Mouse and The Shins frontman have teamed up to become Broken Bells, combining their unique styles to create something fresh, innovative, and just plain cool. The two artists met several years ago while playing a music festival, but couldn't find the time to collaborate until this past year. Their self-titled debut album was just released on March 9th, and I've already got it playing on a loop.
Soulful piano and an organ driven groove reflect the Danger Mouse touch, while folky guitar strumming and emotive vocals shout Mr. Mercer. Together as Broken Bells, these two have put together an album that is beautifully peaceful while capturing a certain sense of angst and attitude.
The album opens with their first single, “The High Road,” which is bound to climb the charts. It's so catchy and moody that you swear you've heard it before. "Vaporize" starts off sounding like a typical Shins song with Mercer's strumming, pining, yearning... but, then the deep organ and percussion kick in and you know Brian Burton is behind this one. "Your Head Is On Fire" is a swimmy, swirly kind of tune. Imagine a slow motion film clip of someone stop, drop, and rolling with splices of a flower blooming. "The Ghost Inside" is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Mercer's falsetto makes him sound like a different vocalist entirely, and the space-funk-staccato is executed perfectly. "Sailing to Nowhere" is a dynamic take on the tried and true call and response technique. For some reason, I feel like Broken Bells is channeling Joe Cocker's A Little Help From My Friends on this one. It's the burst of heady guitar and power organ. "Trap Doors" feels distant and tormented in an indie rock meets a space dream sequence kind of way. "Citizen" is probably the slowest track on the album. With a mournful, trudge-along kind of quality, this one is so mellow and melancholy that it almost loses you to your own thoughts. "October" is similar to the first single off the album and is bound to be a hit with multi-tracked vocals and an infectious repeated piano melody. "Mongrel Heart" transports you to a new-wave-driving-a-delorean-in-the-rain 1980s movie scene: moody and menacing. The last track "Mall and Misery" starts off with a twangy, peaceful strings sound and then slides into new-wave infused beats before trailing off into 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Listen to the album here.
Broken Bells will be playing NPR's South by Southwest Festival in Austin on the 17th, which you can stream live at nprmusic.org/sxsw.
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