After the Disco
Brian Burton—a.k.a. Danger Mouse—has been behind the mixing board of some of the biggest musical transformations in recent history, including milestone recordings by Cee Lo Green, Beck, Norah Jones, and The Black Keys (to name a few). Burton’s collaboration with Shins frontman James Mercer—first heard on 2010’s eponymous *Broken Bells*—evokes a rich emotional depth from the Midas-touch producer. The duo’s second studio offering, *After the Disco*, sublimely dovetails Mercer’s bittersweet melodic instinct and Burton’s future-soul production, balancing space-age Studio 54 grooves like “The Changing Lights” and “After the Disco” with shadowy ballads like “The Angel and the Fool” and “Leave It Alone.” With both the strobe-lit rush of the dance floor and reflexive after-hours reticence, *After the Disco* is an album that lingers in the imagination.
The second album from the Shins' James Mercer and producer Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) is a more cohesive and full-bodied work than their self-titled 2010 debut. The title of After the Disco suggests that Broken Bells' attention has turned to the dancefloor and that holds true, to a point.
After The Disco—the second album from The Shins’ James Mercer and Danger Mouse as their collaboration project, Broken Bells—is unlucky to arrive a year after the release of Random Access Memories. Daft Punk made its record soar by using live instruments (for the most part) and collaborating with disco legend Nile…
James ‘The Shins’ Mercer and Brian ‘Danger Mouse’ Burton look to the Eighties on their second collaborative LP.
It's Friday night. You and your friends roll up on the club. It has no sign—no flashing marquee to beckon you inside. It…
At times, Broken Bells' self-titled debut was so hazy that it felt like it was about to dissipate in a cloud of wry West Coast melancholy, but on After the Disco, James Mercer and Brian Burton give that atmosphere a little more form.
The first Broken Bells record should've been a breeze – the moment where Brian ‘Danger Mouse’ Burton’s potent spark would prompt Shins frontman James Mercer’s fading fires to burst back into flame – but sadly it felt like little more than the sum of its (admittedly very pleasant) parts. Mercer’s songs would change our lives, Natalia Portman promised us in Garden State. It seems an awfully long time ago.
First time round, Broken Bells wasn't the trip everyone expected. On paper the coming together of The Shins' James Mercer and hip-hop producer and sometimes-Gorillaz corroborator Danger Mouse had the potential to be a beat-smothered indie behemoth.
Album review: Broken Bells, 'After The Disco'. It's a safe second LP from Brian Burton and James Mercer, but nothing to be sorry about...
<p>Brian Burton's second album with James Mercer of the Shins feels like a genuine collaboration – but there's no sense that they were driven to make it, writes <strong>Kitty Empire</strong></p>
Broken Bells's 'After the Disco' is a yawner made by an act whose impressive discography makes its failure that much more confounding.
The second collaboration between Danger Mouse and the Shins's James Mercer is a decent, studied genre piece, but not much more, writes <strong>Paul MacInnes</strong>
Broken Bells's second album, After the Disco, is like a downbeat riposte to Daft Punk, says Neil McCormick
It’s a good thing After the Disco turned up in the post last November. Initial listens suggested it as a slight follow up to 2010’s eponymous debut. Living with the new album and allowing it to bed in was obviously the way to go. Unfortunately, repeated revisits haven’t revealed any depth or much to grab onto. The thin gruel that is After the Disco isn’t a worthy successor to Broken Bells and is nothing its creators Danger Mouse and James Mercer should be proud of. Yet more listens raise the questions of what this is for and why did they bother?