James Mercer is currently the lead singer/songwriter for The Shins and Broken Bells, a project with DJ Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, producer of Beck and Gorillaz). Prior to The Shins and Broken Bells, he was the lead singer/songwriter of Flake, which later became Flake Music. There is a rare solo recording on January 7, 2004 of Mercer doing some private recordings of hit songs by his band The Shins for a radio station. - From Last.fm Artist Summary