Not long after The Shins’ James Mercer and all-over-the-map producer Danger Mouse teamed up to form Broken Bells, questions started to arise about the long-term nature of the union: was their self-titled album just a one-off experiment? Both parties were quick to exonerate such rumors, confidently assuring their fans that Broken Bells wasn’t just a passing novelty act.
And now we’ve got confirmation that the pair is, in fact, sticking together.
Broken Bells recently announced an EP of four new songs entitled Meyrin Fields and slated for release on March 29. Today, courtesy of NPR’s First Listen, we’ve got our first look into the new material with a song appropriately titled “Windows”. Recorded during the same sessions that produced Broken Bells, its fairly clear why this song didn’t fit on the album: its a lot more elastic, often framing Mercer’s vocals from off in the distance and relying on much more jangly guitar and steadily evolving percussion from Danger Mouse. Compared to the album’s cuts, its a much more undisciplined — in a good way — listen.
Check out the song here.
