After the Disco

Brian Burton—a.k.a. Danger Mouse—has been behind the mixing board of some of the biggest musical transformations in recent history, including milestone recordings by Cee Lo Green, Beck, Norah Jones, and The Black Keys (to name a few). Burton’s collaboration with Shins frontman James Mercer—first heard on 2010’s eponymous Broken Bells—evokes a rich emotional depth from the Midas-touch producer. The duo’s second studio offering, After the Disco, sublimely dovetails Mercer’s bittersweet melodic instinct and Burton’s future-soul production, balancing space-age Studio 54 grooves like “The Changing Lights” and “After the Disco” with shadowy ballads like “The Angel and the Fool” and “Leave It Alone.” With both the strobe-lit rush of the dance floor and reflexive after-hours reticence, After the Disco is an album that lingers in the imagination.