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Broken Bells

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Posted By: localeye | April 27, 2010 | 2 comments

Broken BellsBroken Bells

This is the first (and only) album to be born from the collaborative efforts of Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley) and James Mercer (The Shins), and if you’re a fan of Gnarls Barkley, you will definitely enjoy this album. Danger Mouse works to establish an overall atmosphere for the album by combining cool, chill beats with vocal harmonies that seem to dance in the background.

Broken Bells opens with a song titled “The High Road” provides a representation of how the rest of the album will flow by setting an experimental, soothing mood that continues across the nine songs that follow. Songs like “Your Head is on Fire” are awash with re-verb and could easily be dropped into an album like The Doors’ Soft Parade. “The Ghost Inside” and “Mongrel Heart” could both be mistaken for Gnarls Barkley songs if it were Cee Lo rather than James Mercer taking up lead vocals. Yet James Mercer’s voice gives each song a calming pace that gives the album its own character.

This is a great album to sit back and smoke a…cigarette to. Danger Mouse is a talented producer whose technical flair is evident in tracks like “Citizen” and “October” that possess a multidimensional dynamic quality…“Sailing to Nowhere” literally sounds like it gets sucked up and then thrown back at the listener. I’m a sucker for quality production and Danger Mouse is the man.

This is just a cool album. Pick it up. You will not be disappointed.

If you are, you probably have bad taste in music and are going bald.

My Rating: 4/5 Danger Mice

2 Responses

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  1. pharmacy technician

    pharmacy technician April 28, 2010 at 5:16 am

    My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!

  2. Christian Rivera

    Christian Rivera April 27, 2010 at 5:42 pm

    I feel in love with “The High Road” the second I heard it. Downloading this album as soon as possible. Great review and I’m positive I won’t be disappointed.