Feature Review: Broken Bells

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To coincide with both the release of the video of 'The Ghost Inside' (see video below) and following on from ‘The Albums of 2010, So Far’ piece, we take a somewhat delayed look at Broken Bells’ debut offering, and find something new on a refreshed listen.

When the Broken Bells project was announced, much was expected – after all it is a match made in indie taste-maker heaven! Brian ‘Danger Mouse’ Burton (Gnarls Barkley) and James Mercer (The Shins), made this album hot on the heels of their impressive contributions to David Lynch, Burton and Sparklehorse’s Dark Night of the Soul (see our ‘The Albums of 2010, so far’) and so at least the quality and quirkiness of this album perhaps may not have been entirely unexpected.

From the opening track atmospherics, programmed and processed beats (courtesy of Burton) match up with melodic and harmonic indie sensibilities (Mercer) to deliver one of the most careful and layered albums of 2010. The lo-fi sound mixed with the somehow rigid but laid-back construction of the songs, thanks to Burton's production values, produces quite a unique sound for the album. Adding to this is Mercer, seemingly channeling Brian Wilson in both vocal delivery and lyrical construction, and is certainly beyond anything he might’ve done with The Shins so far.  The strange, and unexpected, beauty of this album is that it reveals something about itself on every listen - it's not the pop-heavy radio album you might expect.

Broken Bells gets in full swing with the indie-pop of Vaporize and then is followed by the dark, but sublime, The Ghost Inside, the stand-out track in the collection and seemingly the most Danger Mouse influenced track on the album (there’s more than a hint of Demon Days (Gorillaz) and Gnarls Barkley here). From those heights, Your Head Is On Fire is delivered, almost a tip of the hat to the psychedelic rock resurgence, and of which the only bigger tribute to Pink Floyd circa 1969 is MGMT’s Congratulations.

Sailing To Nowhere's theatrics almost ooze out of the speakers as it builds to its crescendo, then brings everything back to a 1920’s ragtime-esque piano and string movement to round out the song. This is indie-quirk at Mercer’s best, but perhaps most extroverted.

The dark Citizen resonates in the space it’s afforded.  Saving the best for near last, October, another highlight track, with the musical links to any track on Joshua Tree undeniable (is it Brian Eno?) with the 'dark jangles' emptying out as Mercer, ever the indie light bearer-introvert, produces some of his best lyrically; “Remember what they say/There`s no shortcut to a dream/It`s all blood and sweat/And life is what you manage in between.”

This is an album that to’s and fro’s; layering sounds beautifully, suddenly snatching it away to an empty space with guitar and vocals, then back to programmed beats and the atmospherics. For all parts, this isn’t a collaboration. It’s not Gnarls Barkley meets The Shins, and although elements of each flow through (The Ghost Inside and October) this is an effort that somehow, after 5 months and countless listens, continues to reveal itself as something more unique than anything that the two have produced before it.

A standout album of 2010, and one that should not, in any way, be ignored. If Mercer’s The Shins are the shining light of US indie-pop/rock in the US, this collaboration defines an instantly more listenable and accessible sound, but somehow with the same sentiments.  All of this is clearly with thanks to Danger Mouse’s production sensibilities.

SPECIAL WIDESCREEN VERSION OF 'THE GHOST INSIDE' FEAT. CHRISTINA HENDRIKS (COURTESY OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, 2010)

Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside

'THE MAKING OF: THE GHOST INSIDE' (COURTESY OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, 2010)

Editor review

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