Broken Bells (song)

"Broken Bells" is a song by American rock band Greta Van Fleet. It is the fourth single from their second album, The Battle at Garden's Gate.

Background
The song was written and recorded during The Battle at Garden's Gates sessions in 2019. The song was then released on digital media on March 19, 2021, as a promotional single for the band's second album.

Composition
The band has said on the social media accounts that "Broken Bells is what the fetter of society does to impact a pure and innocent soul. Our intention is to remove the obligation of generational synthetic expectations; break down these walls and not build new ones." BensBeats compares the song to the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway to Heaven" saying "The band places their most obvious "Stairway to Heaven" nod yet in the album's prime third position with "Broken Bells," copy-pasting the timeless sense of awe with slightly altered chords and running through the same structure"

In an interview with Consequence the band talked about the song saying "Broken Bells is about losing our primal innocence as we face the world. When we are brought in to this life, the soul is perfect. But when faced with the tribulations of our man-made society, the self becomes damaged working within the confines of such."

Reception
The song was met with mostly positive reviews and has become one of the most highly regarded songs off of the album, Battle at Garden's Gate. BensBeats reviewed the song positively saying "Kiszka is at the height of his theatrical vocal delivery here and completely sells the chorus, sounding as though he’s choking up as he sings the final lyrics". Rolling Stone magazine reviewed the song positively calling it a "sprawling ballad". The public reception of the song has also been very positive since the songs release.

Personnel
Greta Van Fleet


 * Joshua Kiszka – vocals, background vocals
 * Jacob Kiszka – guitar, backing vocals
 * Samuel Kiszka – bass, keyboards, background vocals
 * Daniel Wagner – drums, background vocals

Additional musicians


 * Jacob Braun – cello
 * Alma Fernandez – viola
 * Charlie Bisharat – violin
 * Songa Lee – violin

Technical


 * Greg Kurstin – production, engineering
 * Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
 * Julian Burg – engineering
 * Alex Pasco – engineering
 * Matt Wolach – mixing assistance
 * Matt Tuggle – recording assistance
 * Peter Luretig – recording assistance
 * Brian Rajaratnam – recording assistance