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James Mercer & Danger Mouse Return with First Proper Broken Bells Single "Shelter" Since 2015's "It's That Talk Again" (30th Century Records)


Broken Bells (@broken_bells) have been teasing something since about August with cryptic black-and-white in-studio Polaroid-esque photos, some dated as far back as 7/26/18. Broken Bells is, of course, the collaborative duo of James Mercer & Brian Burton. Mercer is the long-time frontman of The Shins/Flake Music and Burton is also, known as super-producer Danger Mouse; who has worked with everyone from MF DOOM (DANGERDOOM) to The Black Keys, A$AP Rocky to Parquet Courts, and likely, most famously, as Gnarls Barkley with Cee-Lo. Since initially forming in 2008-09, Broken Bells have released two full-lengths, 2010's Broken Bells and 2014's After The Disco, as well as a 2011 EP dubbed Meyrin Fields and a number of non-album singles. Honestly, we, here at The Witzard, personally, favor Broken Bells' self-titled 2010 debut, but their entire cannon of music is phenomenal! Lest we forget, Broken Bells courted a then-relatively unknown Christina Hendricks (Good Girls, Mad Men) to star within their 2010 Broken Bells LP stand-out "The Ghost Inside"'s phenomenal space-themed music video/short film.


It's a near-perfect amalgamation of both James Mercer & Brian Burton's separate "solo" endeavors: a bit of Indie Rock/Pop from The Shins, some Hip-Hop from Danger Mouse's Grey Album era, and of course, a bit of melody and Experimental tendencies, and a dash of Prog/Space Rock, for good measure. Now, after a few weeks-worth of mysterious build-up, Broken Bells have officially returned with this first single in nearly three years, "Shelter." While there has been no proper announcement in regards to Broken Bells LP3 (yet!) one has to wonder if "Shelter" and 2015's post-After The Disco non-album single "It's That Talk Again" will, eventually, end up appearing on Brian Burton & Danger Mouse's third as-yet-to-be-announced collaborative full-length. Danger Mouse is currently working on yet another mysterious project, apparently titled LUX PRIMA, with Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O and acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and frequent Broken Bells collaborator Jay "J-Zone" Mumford. For now, however, Broken Bells' latest single, "Shelter" is currently available on their assorted channels, as well as digital streaming platforms through Brian Burton's own 30th Century Records imprint.

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