band of the week: Broken Bells

Danger Mouse is one of our best modern composers. Although I have never been a huge fan of The Shins, this project showcases James Mercer’s voice perfectly, and I dig it—a whole fucking lot.

Broken Bells sounds like anything but their raucous title, and the debut album is only consistent in the quality of music—that is, excellent. The interplay of Mercer and Brian Burton beautifully melds so many genres: hip hop, folk, electronica. Gorgeous string arrangements seem to pop out of nowhere. It’s hard to believe that these songs derive from the same album, but they form a unity like that of a soundtrack or film score: inconspicuous relationships that make perfect sense once you see them all together, but not immediately noticeable at first. Best of all, the music doesn’t seem to fit any sort of time period (ie 60s psychedelia, 70s punk, 90s restlessness or what have you) and doesn’t have any obvious influences. It’s music for music sake, if you will. Pure artistic expression.

Broken Bells are annoyingly listenable, from start to finish. Go out and pick up the record if you haven’t already.