Broken Bells, "Broken Bells"

Since becoming a hipster-household name six years ago with the release of "The Grey Album," Danger Mouse has assembled an impressive roster of collaborators from all over the art-pop map, including Beck, Damon Albarn and David Lynch.

The producer's latest musical partner, Shins frontman James Mercer, hails from a cozier realm. But Broken Bells-the name of the duo's collaboration and self-titled debut-is still long on the tasteful psychedelic textures that Danger Mouse has brought to hits like Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and the Gorillaz' "Feel Good Inc.

" The new album's opener, "The High Road," revs to life with the sputter of what sounds like an arsenal of vintage keyboards, while shivery film-score strings coat Mercer's sad-guy croon on "Citizen." The singer matches Danger Mouse's inventive sonics with his usual complement of twisty-turny melodies and dense wordplay, though compared with the Shins' relatively high-octane 2007 release, "Wincing the Night Away," such jangly space-folk tunes as "Vaporize" and "Sailing to Nowhere" can seem a little snoozy.