James Mercer and Danger Mouse join forces.
Broken Bells, the collaborative efforts of James Mercer (The Shins) and Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton), isn’t necessarily going to change your life, but it is a fractured shard of class none the less.
It opens with a combination of blues and beeps in The high road, almost as an explanation of what to expect from the rest of the album. Mercer’s trademark vocals and Burton’s production genius combine to create an opener that makes you wish more days featured lazy afternoons lying in the grass. Closing on overflowing harmonies, The high road is a strong opening track which you’ll find yourself singing randomly hours and days afterwards.
Vaporise follows simply and adds layers of electro kettle steam organ and trumpet blasts as it goes. It’s got a stunning middle eight section with the lyrics, “I was lost then and I’m lost now” showing the heart and soul of the album.
Your head is on fire starts hypnotically like a dream walk in the jungle and flows into strings, afro percussion and echoing synth pulses.
The ghost inside is a handclap driven, high pitch tune that sounds Kate Bush like in parts. While it’s not a standout track, it’s a great lead-in to Sailing to nowhere, reminding you of the importance of listening to an entire album instead of random collections of tracks. Another bluesy blast, it floats perfectly in the centre of the L.P. and finishes up with a symphony ending that is genuinely beautiful.
Trap doors continues the wonder lust before Citizen shimmers its tambourine blues. With the best chorus on the album, it’s a song to think along to, a little lost in your own world, but a little lost in Mercer and Burton’s too.
October brings acoustic guitars and harmonic vocals to the forefront of everything as a reminder of the simplicity at the heart of the album.
The dirtiest song on the L.P. is Mongrel heart, with its darker tones and haunting lyrics. The desperado brass adds complexity along with the deep death march harmonies before the end.
Continuing where Mongrel heart left off, and brilliantly with no space between them, The mall and misery starts with a sliding guitar riff that could easily have been written by David Gilmour. It’s followed with a mix of tremolo surf and distorted slashing guitar rhythms that give the final track of the album a lot of pace, but before it all closes you’re sent back to the wonder land dreamscape one last time.
Broken bells is a beautiful dream that can either be listened to with the utmost attention or played as the soundtrack to your inner thoughts. It tucks you up in a ball and takes you to places you hadn’t thought of in ages.
Broken Bells album review: 4.1/5
