Broken Bellsby Broken Bells
March 9, 2010
Columbia Records
Amazon: Broken Bells
The man is everywhere. Ever since bursting onto the music scene in 2006 with Cee-Lo as Gnarls Barkley, Danger Mouse (sorry, Brian Burton) has been very busy producing albums for the likes of The Black Keys, Beck, and Gorillaz, whilst collaborating with MF Doom, Sparklehorse (R.I.P.), and now James Mercer of the Shins fame. The duo may seem very unlikely at first, but their styles are actually surprisingly compatible.
I guess I've always sort of been intrigued by collaborations like this, but Broken Bells was pretty special to me. At a time in my life when I'd heard enough of the Shins for a while and I'd given up completely on trying to like Gnarls Barkley, the groups managed to mesh their two distinct styles, eliminating everything that turns me off to either of their previous projects. Upon hearing "The High Road" for the first time, I knew that this would be the kind of collaboration that would be remembered not only for its unorthodoxy, but also for its brilliance.
With the clever songwriting and soothing voice of Mercer and the bass-heavy (and somewhat predictable) beats courtesy of Mr. Burton, Broken Bells is a pretty snazzy piece of work overall, ranging from slow acoustic songs to, well, somewhat faster acoustic songs. You wouldn't think there would be much diversity on the album, but each song is very unique despite the fact that both artists' contributions are always blatantly obvious.
Sure, this is nothing groundbreaking, and it may not make my end of the year top 10 list, but I'm still pretty impressed. I wasn't really expecting a lot from this, I was just hoping for another album to keep me interested in 2010. I don't think it really deserves all the hype it's getting, but it's understandable when the band is comprised of such heavy-hitters of the indie rock world. Looks like we've got our Veckatimest out of the way, 2010.
Track Listing:
1. "The High Road" (* * * * *)
2. "Vaporize" (* * * *)
3. "Your Head Is on Fire" (* *)
4. "The Ghost Inside" (* * *)
5. "Sailing to Nowhere" (* * *)
6. "Trap Doors" (* * *)
7. "Citizen" (* * * *)
8. "October" (* * * * *)
9. "Mongrel Heart" (* * )
10. "The Mall and Misery" (* * *)
Grade: B+
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