Word: albums
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...relatively consistent over the course of his career, fronting the Portland-based indie rock band The Shins for over a decade now. Danger Mouse, however, is known for branching out and mixing musical styles. His rise to fame came with 2004’s “The Grey Album,” which remixed Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” with the Beatles “The White Album”. Since then, Danger Mouse has never remained in one place, producing albums and creating beats with musicians like Gorillaz, Beck...
...example, “The Ghost Inside” is arguably the most beguiling track on the album, yet it never transcends what the two individuals have previously created on their own. The song starts with a strong hip-hop beat and finds Mercer singing in a reverb-rich falsetto. Two-thirds in, it takes a turn and Mercer drops his voice down to his normal range where he is accompanied by the somewhat hackneyed vacillation of strings and heavy bass. The yearning and nomadic nature of Mercer’s voice traveling through Burton’s trip...
...know and so do I / The high road is hard to find”—over an adroitly robotic synth melody. A poignant piano and bass bridge takes the song into a saccharine folk outro that sounds like it could have been lifted directly from a Shins album...
...oscillating back and forth between two different riffs until a swell of cosmic synth noises emerges, climaxing in an explosion of strings and an electric guitar solo. The transient nature of “Sailing to Nowhere” makes it one of the most captivating songs on the album, and shows what other tracks could have become if the group had taken a few more risks...
...most part, however, Broken Bells avoid the pitfalls of high-profile collaboration, creating a safe yet strong album. But when names such as Danger Mouse and The Shins are dropped together, more than just a risk-free pop-album is going to be expected, and this potential is never fully realized here. If Mercer and Burton want Broken Bells to continue as a band, they will have to step just a bit further than this...