Broken Bells' Danger Mouse and Mercer Walk "The High Road" in New Video

Danger Mouse teamed up with David Lynch on last year's Dark Night of the Soul project, and it seems like the director's dark, inscrutable visual style has rubbed off on the musician. Broken Bells' new video for "The High Road" features the Shins' James Mercer and Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton walking down a desolate desert highway at night, spinning around flashlights and encountering white stallions, burlesque dancers and kids watching a bonfire on a movie screen.

At one point, Mercer and Burton approach a car accident (the victim is another Mercer); a child in pajamas crashes a remote-controlled car into the Bells. Are Mercer and Burton ghosts roaming New Mexico after the accident? Does the video represent one of those "psychogenic fugues" that are such a linchpin in Lynchs' cannon? We're not going to try to make sense of the Sophie Muller-directed clip, but it does work well with the Broken Bells' catchy first single. Watch the video above or on MySpace Music, where "The High Road" debuted.

Broken Bells' self-titled album is due out March 9th. In addition to vinyl, CD and digital options, the group is also offering up "Deluxe Limited Edition Music Box" version of Broken Bells, including a 44-page pocket notebook, glow-in-the-dark stickers, postcards, posters and the compact disc itself, all housed in a box that will play their original "Overture" when opened. Get a closer look at the deluxe box on Broken Bells' site.

Related Stories:
• Danger Mouse, The Shins' James Mercer Explain the Birth of New Band Broken Bells
• The Shins Shuffle Lineup, Pen 30 Tunes for New LP: James Mercer Explains Band's Plans
• The Shins to Self-Release Fourth Album

• 
  MUSIC The Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments
• 
  MOVIES & TV 'Game of Thrones': The Show Vs. the Books
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Facebook IPO vs. Shareholders
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive: Garbage Rip Through 'I Think I'm Paranoid'

Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter