‘After the Disco’ lacks substance

By Dylan Frost

When The Shins’ front man James Mercer and Brian Burton – aka Danger Mouse – come together, they form a different team: the Broken Bells, an anomalous duo who attempt to create commercialized electronic pop music.

It has been four years since Broken Bells released its debut self-titled album. Now the group has reappeared with “After the Disco,” an album that seemingly intends to get hip and with-it listeners to find their moment on the dance floor.

“Disco” has many elements of a dance album: mid-tempo, toe-tapping drum play between the hi-hat and the snare, a heavy-grooving bass line complementing the drums, layers of over-produced synths and exaggerated vocal harmonies.

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However, while Mercer and Burton’s “cards are on the table” in an attempt to inspire a little movement in “The Changing Lights,” the majority of the album is forced. It’s banal—there is nothing musically gripping. It rides along one humdrum dynamic throughout.

Mercer pushes an element of redemption through most of the album. He sings about “holding on for life” on the same-titled track and how he’d “never let you go,” and how he “gave you life, dragging you out of the fire” during “Leave it Alone.” On “The Remains of Rock & Roll” he is “off to the promised land if anyone needs a ride.”

As much as he has been “turned around and upside down,” as he testifies in “Perfect World,” it is reasonable to expect something a little more lyrically colorful and genuine during his moment of epiphany. Instead Mercer chooses vague phrases to enlighten his audience.

The keyboards up the quirkiness by cloaking each song in the uninventive syncopations that plague other contemporary electro-pop albums. Many of the arpeggiated effects – especially in “The Changing Lights” – sound like music fit for a “Battletoads” soundtrack from the old days of 8-bit Nintendo, which would be great if their music was meant for “Battletoads.”

Whenever Nintendo noises are not emphatically weaving in and out, trembling organs and distorted synthesizers attempt to paint a brighter song—again, in a very overused way.

There is some charm to the album’s namesake track “After the Disco.” It is kind of a happy medium between LCD Soundsystem and Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories.” Still, even their best song is so tamed to the point of being forgotten. And if nothing else, at least Daft Punk sport gaudy and futuristic headwear when trying to stimulate a crowd.

There is also a soulful tone to some tracks that aide Mercer’s redeeming moments. The chorus of “Holding on for Life” sounds like an electro-gospel with singer/songwriter tendencies. While it is pleasing at times, Mercer’s insistent need to spray his vocal range all over each track is overbearing.

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“Disco” just seems like an attempt for older and established musicians to cater to the needs of the socially inept youth who enjoy the atmosphere of music festivals and concert halls. Are Broken Bells’ songs coming from the heart, or does their creativity stem from a business opportunity?

Since Mercer and Burton have each respectively established their names in the realms of indie pop and hip-hop, they are obviously going to get a bigger budget and guaranteed high production value to collaborate. But if in four years all they can conjure up is some wish-washy electronic tunes that are influenced by demographics, they should just stick with their other gigs.

This sort of party album would not be compelling before or after the days of disco.

Dylan Frost can be reached at [email protected]or by phone at 536-3311 ext. 254.

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