Up for round two of his collaboration with star producer Danger Mouse, the Shins' James Mercer has happily resurrected and re-packaged the Bee Gees on Broken Bells' second record. His debt to the Brothers Gibb is most apparent on the duo's first single, "Holding On For Life," an eerie and artfully structured justification of After the Disco's title. Throughout the record, Mercer exhibits a fine falsetto and updates popular disco cliches.
It would be misleading, however, to label After the Disco Mercer's "Bee Gees" album. Much more vocally varied, indie-infused, theremin-laced, future-minded, and downright melancholic than classic seventies dance anthems, the songs on After the Disco are a delayed hangover from a lost era. The tracks contain excellent pop hooks, but there is a weariness and desperation that muddy the sharply produced fun.
Glumness aside, After the Disco is highly accessible and should have a wide appeal. Mercer and synth-pop mix better than early Shins records ever would have implied. Artists must inevitably evolve to survive, yet it does seem bittersweet to find Mercer so estranged from the subtle loveliness of his younger days. An old song like "New Slang" feels oceans away from Broken Bells' overall mission.
After the Disco is an above-average pop album, with an engaging first single and an inviting eighties-styled opening track ("Perfect World"). On it, Mercer sings "I've got nothing left, it's kind of wonderful." And though After the Disco is musically "kind of wonderful" at times, it's the nothingness at its philosophical core that both elevates the work's artistic complexity and drains it of the exuberance it sometimes needs.
Grade: B
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