Broken Bells: Broken Bells

Broken Bells are super producer Danger Mouse - one half of Gnarls Barkley and also famed for his Beatles/Jay-Z album mash-up, The Grey Album - and Shins frontman James Mercer. It's a fruitful pairing. The country-inflected groove of opener "The High Road", with its richness of sound, sets the album's tone. Mercer's fine songcraft and sanguine vocals have been adroitly treated with playfulness and polished throughout. It has surprises too: the brilliant "The Ghost Inside" features an impressive falsetto from Mercer.