Broken Bells announce third album and share new single – listen

Broken Bells have announced their third studio album, ‘Into the Blue’ – you can hear the first single below.

The supergroup, comprised of The Shins supremo James Mercer and Oscar-winning producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse, will return with a new full-length later this year, for the first time since 2014, when they released the experimental pop odyssey ‘After the Disco’. Before that, they’d released a self-titled debut LP in 2010. An EP, ‘Meyrin Fields’, split the difference, arriving in 2011.

Now, they’ve shared a new single, ‘We’re Not in Orbit Yet…’, along with some psychedelic visuals.  The pair had been teasing new material on their social media channels for some time, but the release of the new track, and the news of the album, come as both have a number of other irons in the fire; Mouse, real name Brian Burton, has another new album set for August 12, ‘Cheat Codes’.

That record is another collaborative effort, this time with rapper Black Thought, and will arrive via BMG. It is the first major hip hop hook-up for Mouse since he released ‘DANGERDOOM’ in 2005, a critically-acclaimed crossover with late rap maverick MF DOOM. Before that, he had put himself on the map with ‘The Grey Album’, an unauthorised remix album that saw him blend The Beatles’ 1968 self-titled LP, popularly known as ‘The White Album’, with Jay-Z’s supposed 2003 farewell record, ‘The Black Album’.

Mercer, meanwhile, has plenty in his own diary; The Shins’ seminal debut album, ‘Oh, Inverted World’ turned 20 last year. The record provided a blueprint that countless 21st-century lo-fi indie rockers would go on to follow, and to celebrate its anniversary, The Shins will head out across their native North America on a 21st birthday tour later this year, one that will take in a mammoth 38 dates, and visit such legendary venues as New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, Nashville, Tennessee’s Ryman Auditorium, and Colorado’s picturesque Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Further details on ‘Into the Blue’ are expected shortly. Until then, both ‘Broken Bells’ and ‘After the Disco’ can be revisited on all major streaming services.