Broken Bells

With the release of Broken Bells’ self-titled debut LP, The Shins’ James Mercer became the latest singer-songwriter to play with the contents of Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton’s history-of-pop-spanning toy box. The duo chose Air-esque bleeps and bloops and spaghetti Western choral vocals to augment Mercer’s weary falsetto and cryptic lyrics on lead single, “The High Road,” but far more interesting is “The Ghost Inside,” a slinky number that makes economic use of its interlocking groove before exploding into a panoramic outro. Neither song is the next “Crazy” (or even the next “New Slang”), but they’re still more colorful than anything on Wincing The Night Away. 

Updated 10/05/2010