Broken Bells: After the Disco Review

The debut album for the Broken Bells is one that has a lot of personal connection for me. James Mercer of the Shins, Danger Mouse of everything hazy, it was going to be good for those reasons alone. Since I was in a transitional period of my life, the lyrics and the lazy/hazy acoustic-forward indie sound of needing change resonated something hard. It is one I still love for the quality of the music, and I think it sits near the top of both artist's discography. It went under the radar if you ask me. 

This followup, After the Disco, might get a little more attention. It's more energetic, colorful, and hook laden. I won't insult the creators by accusing them of trying to appease the Billboard gods, but there's little doubt it's the more accessible between the two. There's a lot of great areas for their voices to pick through when it comes to the more upbeat tunes--not that either has ever shied away from uptempo. That's not to say this is happy album, though. I'd even say some of the happiness comes off as intentionally fake. Songs like Control and No Matter What You're Told do a great faux 50s vibe, betraying the marimbas and horn sections of the Ed Sullivan band in the background by singing such relatively dark lyrics. It doesn't hurt that the bulk of the tracks are minor key as well.

If you've heard the first album, you'll notice the change, but you'll likely still recognize this as the Bells. Especially in the first two tracks, it feels like a very different direction is going to be taken. Perfect World has hints of the production used on Gnarls Barkley near the front of the over-six-minute track before smoothing out like a sand dune, and After the Disco is surprisingly synthy and....well...disco-y. It might have been an attempt to set the tone as a new, confident album, but for fans of the old sound it will be two concerning tracks out of the gate. 

Holding On For Life will be a relief, then, for the old fans, as the album then eases back into familiar territory. Mercer has really made this reflective mood work for his vocals. These aren't tight, musically complex songs, and Mercer has had much wordier songs in his past. Showing some restraint on that side was a smart move. I do wish, though, that the message of each song were a little more diverse. There's a lot of admonishment for naivety and frustration with an indecisive partner. Still, there's clever lines aplenty and the nautical references are kept [ahem] at bay.

That might be helped along by the more minimalist melodies on display here. These aren't walls of sound or dreamy soundscapes, which would be too slow for the purpose. Rather, these are poppy songs played with subdued intentions, often slinking away from the listener to leave James to have a moment of frankness. To his credit, he sells these moments; Leave it Alone wrings out his mournful angered dogma, Give it Up finds him stair-stepping his way down the scales curtly, and Angel and the Fool shows his voice at its coldest, teetering on judgemental. These moments remind me just how glad I am that this band exists. It's every bit as satisfying as you hope it will be, fully cashing in on both musicians. Neither of the pair are great at hiding their signature sounds, but I can't imagine why you'd want that anyway.

What bothers the most is how artificial this album can be. Drums, pianos, saxophones, even vocals, all at times sound synthesized instead of real. This gives the affair a quality of low budget, or even low talent. Some of the melodies even get pulled into this problem, sounding generated rather than written. The violin sections on The Remains of Rock and Roll feel really flat, when that's often the big spacious moment you anticipate.

There are lots of acts that can make good use of this kind of songwriting. Madeon, Passion Pit, Radiohead, and of course Danger Mouse himself--he's made a name out of the loops and mixes he creates. Sometimes, that really shines through. Holding On for Life does a great job of highlighting his penchant for haze, reminding everyone what talents he has. Most of the time, though, the strengths fall on the Mercer side, with great Shins-y songs meandering through shallow watery guitar. This all builds a record that feels separated between Danger Mouse songs and James Mercer songs. If that were the case, I'd rather them just work on other projects; try as they might, when the music is supposed to be a duet, neither can convincingly sing both parts.

I can't tell if this is a product of overconfidence, forcing the issue, or plain old distraction. Both musicians are not begging for projects, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear that this is more of a relaxing experience for the two. The first album was clearly a cathartic project, so there might be an element of trying to recapture that feeling. Catharsis is so easily manufactured, like one can feign interest or amusement; the moments that might be cathartic are instead goofy.

It is telling that I can complain as much as I am about this and still call this a pretty good album. There is still a lot of great mood here that shouldn't be slept on. I hope the next album will the one that finally is greater than the sum of its musicians, because in my head, how could it not? It may be a step in the wrong direction, but moving from making compelling music to making fun music is far from the worst change you can make. Beck does it all the time.

7/10

Note: I do my best to use album cover images that I can link back to a store page. If that's not available, I'd rather not display the image.