23 Jul Broken Bells | Album Review

The name of good '80s music has too often been taken in vain of late with many wannabes riding the retro bandwagon.  They abuse the synth by over-use, totally missing the point of what made that particular decade stand out - its diversity and, more importantly, its innovation. Yet once in a while you hear something that evinces the spirit of the last musical golden age so accurately you could mistake it for a recently discovered long-lost '80s gem. Broken Bells’ delicious self-titled electro-indie debut - the love child of producer Danger Mouse and Shins frontman James Mercer - is such a record.  Try to pin down its influences to a single source and you come unstuck; there are just so many overlaps.