Broken Bells

Broken Bells is the duo formed by James Mercer, best known as the frontman of The Shins, and Brian Burton, the producer known as Danger Mouse. The pair met while touring and began writing together, blending Mercer's melodic indie-pop songwriting and airy vocals with Danger Mouse's dense, atmospheric production, which draws on psychedelia, soul, and electronic textures. Their self-titled debut album arrived in 2010 and produced the widely played single «The High Road», establishing the project as a showcase for a moodier, more experimental sound than either member's main body of work.

The duo followed up with «After the Disco» in 2014, an album that leaned further into disco and space-rock influences while keeping the introspective, melancholic tone that runs through their catalog. Tracks such as «Holding on for Life» and the title track «After the Disco» highlighted this shift toward danceable rhythms layered under Mercer's wistful lyrics. The project has been sporadic rather than a full-time outlet for either member, functioning as a creative side door away from The Shins and Danger Mouse's numerous production and collaborative credits.

Broken Bells occupies a distinctive niche within alternative and indie rock, valued for its cinematic, layered production and for pairing two established figures from different corners of the industry — indie-rock songwriting and hip-hop-adjacent studio craft — into a cohesive, genre-blurring sound.