Broken Bells — Broken Bells

Broken Bells is Shins frontman James Mercer's new project with Danger Mouse. And yes, a weird idea has resulted in a weird album.

First single "The High Road" is what The Shins would sound like if they had more lounge music influences, while "Vaporize" starts as a Shins-ish indie jam and soon turns into a synthesizer-laden, trumpet-inflected ditty.

But lest you think this is just another Shins album in all but name, think again. "Your Head Is On Fire" is a swirly, drugged-out, dream-pop number that sounds like it's been put through a washing machine. "The Ghost Inside" is like an "indie-fied" version of Gnarls Barkley, minus Cee-Lo, while "Sailing To Nowhere" could... weirdly... fit nicely on the soundtrack to a Coen brothers film. "Mongrel Heart" sounds like elevator music before turning into something out of a spaghetti western.

In short, Broken Bells is a little all over the place and it comes across as unfocussed, but it remains an interesting listen. Hopefully this won't be a one-off collaboration and there will be more material from Burton and Mercer in the future.

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