It’s been three years since you’ve been “Wincing The Night Away” thanks to one of Indie music’s most exquisite band, The Shins. You’re probably wondering and eagerly waiting for the news that a new album is being released, unfortunately this is not the case. In fact, British magazine “The Quietus” stated that the lead singer of The Shins, James Mercer, is taking a break from the band until 2011.
     Don’t stray away too quickly though, Mercer has started a new side project in which he calls Broken Bells. The self-titled album was announced last year in October, and just recently it has been released. All music is written by Mercer but with a twist. This time around, Mercer experiments with Danger Mouse, a renown producer and founder of Gnarls Barkley.
     The album is relatively short, it runs for only about 35 minutes and has only 10 songs. It sticks to the same realm of the type of fundamental Indie music but adds a “danger” element into the mix. The acoustics of previous works are striped form the project though eliminating and establishing new grounds.
   The album deals with the concept of personal loss but it’s uncertain what was “lost,” if anything at all. Perhaps it’s an expression of the progression for Mercer, from The Shins to the awkwardly similar yet distinct Broken Bells.
     Though the concept of personal loss is evident, there is nothing remarkably depressing, the album can however be cynical at times but is still filled with more than catchy lyrics and intros that demand replays. The album works as a symphony, combining intense instrumentals while delivering the sounds of the ever so popular synthesizer.
     With these additions, songs like “The High Road” will take you to places out of this world, by initiating the album, it starts of slow, setting a casual tone with lucidly unreal beats placed. By the time you experience “The Ghost Inside” you know what to expect from the album, yet still be surprised by picking up the pace for the rest of tracks.
     By the time you reach close ends of your “Mongrel Heart,” you will fall for the classic instrumental electricity but at the same time be distorted with the saxophone and trumpets add-ons that seem to maintain some amount of equilibrium throughout.
     Overall, though the time we are given with Mercer and Danger Mouse should have been much longer, they nonetheless make quite the duo. The album is currently available for streaming at TORO Magazine Online. Literally and honestly, though with Mercers voice already penetrated in my mind, it seemed just like a fresh new release of The Shins, just a bit tweaked playfully. Entering to the abyss of Danger Mouse is solely responsible for this new sound and this just adds on to his credentials.
     This may not be The Shins, but seeing that the music is being taken in a different angle, it may just be the next best thing.