The first time I listened to Broken Bells’ self-titled debut, I was completely unaware of the band’s pedigree. In the end, I feel like this actually gave me a chance to enjoy the record without any preconceived notion of what to expect. Had I known I was listening to the new project from the minds of Danger Mouse — credited here under his given name, Brian Burton — and James Mercer, of indie rock act The Shins, there is a good chance that I would be more critical of the album. Instead, I found myself wrapped up in the songs, enveloped by the sound, and enjoying the down tempo vibe of the record.
The project started as a mutual admiration, shared between Burton and Mercer, and discovered when the two performed with their respective bands at the 2004 Roskilde festival. Flash forward four years to 2008 when the duo locked themselves down in Burton’s studio and challenged themselves to expand beyond the box they respectively fit in. For Burton, this meant abandoning the trappings of being Danger Mouse, and focusing on live instrumentation. For Mercer, the challenge was to stretch his vocal repertoire to its limits. The result is, arguably, one of the better records to come out in the first quarter of 2010. (more…)
