I’ve been meaning to write about Broken Bells for a few weeks now. The self-titled debut album recorded by James Mercer of indie rock band The Shins and producer Brian Burton (AKA Danger Mouse) is scheduled to be released on March 9, 2010.
The artwork for the album and the first single, The High Road (right), is very cool. Both feature illustrations with shocking Pepto Bismol pink-colored shapes on green backgrounds.
The music video for The High Road was directed by the legendary Sophie Muller (who also photographed the cover for the amazing Sade Soldier of Love album). I think Muller does her best work with female artists like Annie Lennox and Gwen Stefani, but the Broken Bells video isn’t bad.
What is lacking in this project is cohesiveness between the graphic design and the video. It just doesn’t pull together as a package. This is fairly typical these days. I’m not sure if the idea was to create covers that look kind of like what Muse is doing or what.
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I love the album art work and the concept behind the packaging. It almost looks like something I expect to see on a Jim O’Rourke album or something. I think the artwork fits the sensibility of Broken Bells music. Great job!