Suds on Bleeker

It’s a shame that Broken Bells had to release their debut album on the same day that Gorillaz dropped their latest, Plastic Beach (which I reviewed yesterday).

That’s  because, as I’ve mentioned before, Broken Bells sounds strikingly similar to their cartoon counterparts much of the time, but without the wild eccentricity and excitement.  Those comparisons are inevitable since one half of Broken Bells is Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, who produced Gorillaz’ epic album Demon Days.  The omnipresent analog synths that are Gorillaz’ trademark are present here as well, which usually leaves the singers as the only major difference between the two groups.

But that’s a significant difference.  Whereas Damon Albarn plays off his hushed, melancholic croon in Gorillaz, James Mercer, of the Shins, adds a greater range to the styling of Broken Bells.

But Broken Bells is not a rip-off of Gorillaz and deserves to be judged on its own merits.

The album starts off with a bang.  “The High Road” is a perfect pop song, with Mercer singing about the difficulty of making unpopular decisions and the fear that comes with setting out on your own.  That’s followed up by “Vaporize,” for which Burton breaks out an awesome organ to set the beat and then busts out a super-mellow horn interlude near the end.  The lyrical content of “Vaporize” seems like a continuation of “The High Road” – how it’s easier to sit and wait for something good to happen and much harder to take that step that could lead to new beginnings but also new failures.

That fear of experimentation is kept solely to the lyrical content, however.  Broken Bells does a marvelous job of mixing synthetic sounds with organic ones.  Synths and drum machines meld perfectly with acoustic guitars, horns, and piano.  Most importantly, it always feels natural.  And that combination is used to run the full gamut of sounds – from modern electro-pop to folky balladry.  “Your Head Is On Fire” is a dreamy, pastoral tune that could fit right in with Fleet Foxes.

With such a wide range of styles and sounds, it’s perplexing why Broken Bells don’t apply the same open-mindedness to the tempo of the tunes.  By and large, the songs on this album are rather uniform in that regard.  It’s like a friend who is always the same measured mood no matter how much you try to get a rise out of him.  This album is laid-back and chilled-out and it never seems like the band tried to break out of that mold, even for one song.  This pervasive sameness doesn’t detract from the songs’ individual merits but it does make the album less interesting.  Mercer sums it up best in “October,” when he sings, “Don’t run, don’t rush/just flow.”  And that’s exactly what Broken Bells do; they flow – like a peaceful brook.

Broken Bells is an auspicious debut from two very talented musicians, but they’d be wise to emulate more than just the sound of Gorillaz next time and try for that group’s fearlessness as well.

Rating:

-Sam