Broken Bells - Broken Bells

At first blush, the pairing of James Mercer (of alt-pop masters The Shins) and brilliant producer/mix-master Danger Mouse (AKA Brian Burton of Gnarls "Crazy" Barkley fame) might seem incongruous at best. But while the duo's debut collaborative effort Broken Bells, arriving March 9, may be also "totally different", as Mercer has described it, the odd matchup of styles has produced a surprisingly supple, tantalizingly eclectic album that succeeds by melding the best qualities of each creative source into a seamless whole. Observes Burton: "Is this rock? Is it soul? Is it something else? I don't know, but I do know we did something great." We agree.

New track "Vaporize" exemplifies the Broken Bells approach: an acoustic folk melody that wouldn't seem out of place on a Shins album switches gears quickly with a rich organ bed and jazz/funk rhythm kicking in. Psychedelic harmony flourishes, a remarkably potent sing-along chorus hook and muted horn solo add further embellishments to a song that, like the album, never gets in its own way. Mercer and Burton aren't really out to "prove" anything here by going over the top with a dramatic impact of opposing styles. Adventurous? Sure. But Broken Bells may actually be more "radical" by tempering a dichotomy of styles into a highly listenable, even mainstream (!) album. Recommended.

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Broken Bells - "Vaporize" (from the album Broken Bells)

Broken Bells - "The High Road" (from the album Broken Bells)