Of late, pop music has been dominated by solo artists, superstar producers and their collaborations, in which the word "featuring" features prominently and which often seem to be more about maximising brand synergy than aesthetic simpatico. Bands are, if not quite dead, then hanging on to the coat-tails of this zeitgeist.
If the point is easily contested – big rock outfits such as Kings of Leon routinely sell out arenas; producers have long acted as creatives and disparate voices have long duetted – the trend is still there. Witness 2013's bestselling singles and albums charts, or the BBC's Sound of 2014 longlist, with its roster of singers-for-hire. Even the token rock act, Royal Blood, are a duo: lighter on their feet and more easily managed than four or five surly dudes.
Music-making is now a "project" that generates "material", – or "content" for your iTunes dashboard – and few have been more adept at swimming through these quicksilver waters than Brian Burton. He gets around, fruitfully. Known mostly by his producerly alias, Danger Mouse, he was in Gnarls Barkley, the soul'n'B duo with Cee-Lo Green that hit big with Crazy (2006). Latterly, alongside producing landmark albums for Gorillaz and the Black Keys, and forthcoming records by U2 and Frank Ocean, he has made up half of Broken Bells with James Mercer of the Shins, the band credited with bringing indie guitar music out of American college dormitories in the 00s.
Broken Bells' first album has sold just under 700,000 to date; After the Disco reprises this mellow pop partnership, in which guitars and melodies come augmented by just-so producerly touches. Broadly, it's about the morning after the night before, when you wake up and face your responsibilities. After the Disco's really not a bad record at all – bittersweet, full of clever earworms and knowledgable references, and better than their last one. Unlike the fleeting couplings of convenience that over-populate the pop arena, these guys clearly spend time together; they even thought up a name, rather than "Danger Mouse feat James Mercer". Their middle eights are sweetly Beatley; Theremins burble, and shakers shake. This is not David Guetta feat Sia.
Technically, A Perfect World begins the album before the disco era starts, with a Kraftwerk tribute that revs up into catchy motorik pop. With its Bee Gees falsettos, the single, Holding on for Life, is as high-disco-meets-80s as you could ask for, a pastiche that is probably designed to throw the meat'n'potatoes tendency among Shins fans into a lather. The rest is full of nicely turned thirtysomething concerns expressed in retro-pop idiom; Control discusses how change is the only constant in life.
Burton has mentioned Czech synth pioneer Jan "Miami Vice" Hammer as a touchstone here; Broken Bells must have wilted a little when Daft Punk released Random Access Memories, which has that old-methods, sci-fi discoid feel, but on a much grander, Grammy-scooping scale. It could be the result of studying Burton's catalogue too assiduously, but Leave it Alone actually sounds a little like the Black Keys, adding to the feeling of faintly promiscuous cultural overlap that hovers over After the Disco.
Although the melodies and rhythms keep coming – No Matter What You're Told is particularly nicely turned psych-pop – the second half of the record tails off. By track 10 you're drumming your fingers at the same features that sounded so good earlier: the philosophical touches, the classy warmth of Burton's choice of instruments or Mercer's choice of words. There is no sense of impulsion here; you don't get the feeling that this record just poured out of its makers. It might not be the craven product of a marketing meeting, but it sounds like two talented, successful guys making nice tunes, no less, no more.
