Biography
Broken Bells unites Shins frontman and guitarist James Mercer with producer and multi-instrumentalist Danger Mouse, letting each contributor bring forward his strongest traits. The project’s 2010 self-titled debut, nominated for a Grammy, and the more tightly arranged 2014 follow-up After the Disco showed how Mercer’s knack for memorable yet slightly unsettling melodies meshed with Danger Mouse’s atmospheric approach under his Brian Burton alias; nearly ten years afterward, the 2022 album Into the Blue confirmed that their artistic rapport remained undiminished.
The pair first felt compelled to work together after crossing paths at Denmark’s Roskilde music festival in 2004 and realizing they admired one another’s output. Actual songwriting and recording as a unit began only in March 2008, when Mercer settled into Burton’s Los Angeles home studio. Their method departed from prior endeavors: Burton set aside the sample-driven techniques heard on The Grey Album and Beck’s Modern Guilt in favor of live instrumentation alone, while Mercer expanded his singing to explore falsetto and lower registers. The duo made their first public appearance as Broken Bells in 2009, issuing the single “The High Road” late that year. Their debut album arrived in March 2010, climbed to number seven on the Billboard 200, and earned a 2011 Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album. The Meyrin Fields EP followed in 2011, collecting previously unheard material alongside its title track, originally the B-side of “The Ghost Inside.”
After Meyrin Fields, Mercer and Burton turned to separate work for a time. Burton produced for Norah Jones and Portugal. The Man, while Mercer revived the Shins with 2012’s Port of Morrow. Broken Bells resurfaced in February 2014 with After the Disco, a collection shaped by synth-pop, new-wave, and disco elements. The next year they released the leftover track “It’s That Talk Again” as an independent single.
Another stretch of individual projects followed. Burton lent his production skills to A$AP Rocky, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, and Karen O, and Mercer delivered two Shins albums, 2017’s Heartworms and its 2018 companion piece The Worm’s Heart. Late in 2018 the duo reconvened to put out “Shelter,” then added the September 2019 single “Good Luck” while preparing their next album. After Mercer completed a Shins tour and Burton finished Cheat Codes with the Roots’ Black Thought, Broken Bells delivered their third full-length, October 2022’s Into the Blue. Their first record to draw on samples, it wove psych-rock, trip-hop, and 1970s rock textures into the group’s established sound.
The pair first felt compelled to work together after crossing paths at Denmark’s Roskilde music festival in 2004 and realizing they admired one another’s output. Actual songwriting and recording as a unit began only in March 2008, when Mercer settled into Burton’s Los Angeles home studio. Their method departed from prior endeavors: Burton set aside the sample-driven techniques heard on The Grey Album and Beck’s Modern Guilt in favor of live instrumentation alone, while Mercer expanded his singing to explore falsetto and lower registers. The duo made their first public appearance as Broken Bells in 2009, issuing the single “The High Road” late that year. Their debut album arrived in March 2010, climbed to number seven on the Billboard 200, and earned a 2011 Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album. The Meyrin Fields EP followed in 2011, collecting previously unheard material alongside its title track, originally the B-side of “The Ghost Inside.”
After Meyrin Fields, Mercer and Burton turned to separate work for a time. Burton produced for Norah Jones and Portugal. The Man, while Mercer revived the Shins with 2012’s Port of Morrow. Broken Bells resurfaced in February 2014 with After the Disco, a collection shaped by synth-pop, new-wave, and disco elements. The next year they released the leftover track “It’s That Talk Again” as an independent single.
Another stretch of individual projects followed. Burton lent his production skills to A$AP Rocky, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, and Karen O, and Mercer delivered two Shins albums, 2017’s Heartworms and its 2018 companion piece The Worm’s Heart. Late in 2018 the duo reconvened to put out “Shelter,” then added the September 2019 single “Good Luck” while preparing their next album. After Mercer completed a Shins tour and Burton finished Cheat Codes with the Roots’ Black Thought, Broken Bells delivered their third full-length, October 2022’s Into the Blue. Their first record to draw on samples, it wove psych-rock, trip-hop, and 1970s rock textures into the group’s established sound.
Albums
INTO THE BLUE
2022
Holding On for Life (Solomun Remix)
2014
After the Disco
2014
Meyrin Fields EP
2011
Broken Bells
2010
Singles
