Posted in Artist

Can James Mercer not Sound Like The Shins?

In 2010 we’ll see a number of anticipated albums come out such as the new Hot Chip due out in early February. But one you may not be aware of is an album that is the product of a unique collaboration – James Mercer (lead singer of The Shins) and Danger Mouse. They are calling themselves, Broken Bells.

An interesting combo, but hey, so was the announcement that Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse were working together oh so many years ago. But what’s a bigger challenge for DM this time around is dealing with the notion that you can take James Mercer out of The Shins but can you take The Shins out of James Mercer? Lets face it, his vocals are the signature sound of The Shins ever since “Oh, Inverted World” was forced upon Zach Braff’s listening pleasure by Natalie Portman in the move Garden State.

Per usual in this day and age, we get a chance to decide on how Danger Mouse and James did in avoiding the obvious comparisons to James own band. But then again, is it really such a bad thing if all this album does is come out sounding like a Shins album?

Listen to “The High Road”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Bonus Listen: “Vaporize”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Thoughts?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *