Broken Bells, Sunny

I don't have a ton to say about this. My general take is mild disappointment. "The High Road" was big on the radio, and I think this album and this band were pretty big around... when did this album come out? 2010? So I was right out of college then. The friends I was running with were big into going to festivals around that time. This is just a band that would come up with the other band names around that time. Your Passion Pits, your Flaming Lipses, your Grouploves, stuff like that. "The High Road" was obviously this high water mark, plus it's an indie supergroup of the Shins and Danger Mouse, ya know? So I was really excited to get into the album.

 

And I sort of ultimately felt it was hit or miss. When they're both doing their best thing, this is good, this is a match that works, they make some interesting music and it's fun. It gets sort of mushy in the middle, and I pick up on it a couple times. I was driving, so I don't even know the names of the songs. Maybe "October"?

 

The moment I realized, after the second time I listened to it, that this album just really didn't grip me that much, was when I lost focus after a while, but then picked up at a certain song and said, "Oh, this is kinda fun! What is this?" I opened up Spotify, and they weren't even playing the album anymore. It was just a single or EP or whatever. It pissed me off that Spotify did that, but it also shows how I wasn't that into the end of this album.

You can't beat the algorithm!

If we're talking about some other standouts, we could mention "The Ghost Inside." That's not bad. It's kind of just a worse "High Road" at the end of the day, but it's not bad. The track at the very end is very interesting. "The Mall & Misery." It's not my favorite, but at least it's something. I like that jaunty beat. It felt Jersey-ish, which I can always appreciate.

 

Sam had had a problem with "Mongrel Heart," and I did too. I don't know what the problem was though. The name? But I didn't know the name of it while listening. I just came into it tired already, I think.

Broken Bells? Fine. Could be better. Probably a band that should just stick to singles... their one single. And stick to it!

As told to Puke on Your Birthday at Bartram's Garden.