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Broken Bells

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Broken Bells

Broken Bells is an American rock music band composed of artist-producer Brian Burton (better known as Danger Mouse) and James Mercer, the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Oregonian indie rock band The Shins. Broken Bells compose and create as a duo, but are joined by a full band on tour. Following the success of their first self-titled album, Broken Bells, Mercer and Burton have announced intentions to record a follow-up.[1]

History

The project was first announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.[2] The pair decided to work together after meeting at the Roskilde Festival, a Danish music festival, in 2004 and finding they were fans of each other's work.[3] It took four more years before the two started working together and by March 2008 Mercer and Burton began recording together in secret at Burton's Los Angeles-based studio.[4] The two describe their material as "melodic, but experimental, too."[5]

On December 14 the band released their first email update, in which a binary-coded message stating 'The High Road is hard to find' was displayed, offering a link to the band's web page, now with a new color scheme, for 'further details'. On the morning of December 21, the band informed fans in an email of the release of their debut single "The High Road", which was made available as a free download on their official site.[6] The self-titled debut album was released in the U.S. and Canada on March 9, 2010. Another version of the album was released as well which is designed to be a music box that, when opened, plays a song called "The Overture", which is not on the album.[7]

Before the formation of Broken Bells, Mercer and Burton both worked together on the track "Insane Lullaby" on the album Dark Night Of the Soul by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse. Broken Bells have since performed the song several times, often as a tribute to the late Mark Linkous, the Sparklehorse frontman who died in early 2010.

Mercer and Burton filmed a video of "Insane Lullaby" for NPR.[8]

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions
US US Alt. US Rock AUS CAN DEN SWE UK
2010 Broken Bells 7 2 3 20 16 14 40 47

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US
Rock 		US
Alt. 		CAN JPN
2009 "The High Road" 15 10 75 60 Broken Bells
2010 "The Ghost Inside" — 27 — —
"October" — — — —
"—" denotes a release that did not chart

References

  1. ^ Dye, David (2010-07-23). "Broken Bells On World Cafe". World Cafe. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  2. ^ Adams, Sean (2009-09-29). "The Shins' James Mercer + Danger Mouse = Broken Bells! Greatest News Of the Year". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  3. ^ Hewitt, Ben The Odd Couple: Broken Bells Interviewed from The Quietus January 2010.
  4. ^ Gormley, Ian Broken Bells: James Mercer and Danger Mouse at Exclaim! March 2010.
  5. ^ Diehl, Matt (2009-09-30). "Danger Mouse, The Shins' James Mercer Explain the Birth of New Band Broken Bells". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  6. ^ "Danger Mouse/Shins new band Broken Bells give away new song". NME. 2009-12-21. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  7. ^ Danger Mouse, James Mercer Ring in Broken Bells from Reuters.
  8. ^ Exclusive Video Premiere: An 'Insane Lullaby' From Danger Mouse And James Mercer from NPR.
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