The Shins albums
The Shins lead the charge of what would have to be called the "indie rock explosion" of the mid 00's. They made two of the greatest and most significant records of that decade, Oh Inverted World and Chutes too Narrow, and then got popular to ridiculous proportions because of the inclusion of their music in the plot of the movie Garden State (2004). It is rare that any movie stops to make a point about how good a band is, but this movie did just that and they were right on. With this, The Shins were one of the key bands of the 2000's in rock music but similar to Nirvana in the 90’s (to a lesser extent for sure) they found it a little impossible to live up to the high standards their first couple of albums set up. They are great at making easy going rock music that is as melodic as it is smart. With foundations in Flake Music, a band from the 1990's James Mercer also fronted, the band has grown quite steadily and make plenty music worth remembering.
Band Members:
James Mercer - Guitar, Vocals
Dave Hernandez - Bass
Jesse Sandoval - Drums
Marty Crandall – Keyboards
Best Album:
Oh, Inverted World
Biggest Influences:
The Who, The Zombies, The Beach Boys. The Kinks, The Dentists, Simon and Garfunkel
Album Chronologically:
2001 – 90% - Oh! Inverted World
2003 – 87% - Chutes Too Narrow
2007 – 58% - Wincing the Night Away
2001
Oh! Inverted World - 90%
This album is what you call a ‘modest masterpiece’ as it creeps up on you and doesn’t come across as too forceful. The first couple of months I had it, I thought it was pretty good, but nothing special. Every time I pulled it out to listen to it though, it got better and better, and sometimes it's just like that. Now I think it is a call back to the flawless English records of the 1960’s: the best kind of pure pop album since the early 60's classics like The Zombies Odyssey and Oracle, The Who’s The Who Sell Out, and The Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society. It purposefully recalls those old classics, but also adds elements from modern influences: The La’s The La's, The Undertones’ Hypnotized, The Chill’s Kaleidoscope World, and even XTC’s Skylarking, making it a nice mix of modern sounds mixed with old sensibilities. The best thing about it is the flow and consistency though. Songwriter James Mercer really nails the balance of songs without losing our attention once, from the bouncy atmospheric "Know Your Onion", opening catchy "Caring is Creepy", "Girl on the Wing", and "Pressed in a Book", to the moody/atmospheric – short but meaningful "Weird Divide" that is for sure a standout earworm song, closing sort of epic sounding "The Past and Pending" ends it all on a ponderous tone..
The best of these songs manage to be both though: "One by One all Day" starts off with mystique but just gets curiouser and curiouser as it goes; "New Slang" became the crossover hit, with one of those "why didn't I think of that?" melodies that gets you every time; "Girl Inform Me" changes up the verse-chorus structure somewhat, and though it heavily recalls the Pete Townshend classic "Odorono", it actually improves on its ancestor. As the album is going it has a ghostly charm, and it feels familiar though it is actually brand new; this is what the best music does. The album stars a bit stronger than it finishes, as “Your Algebra”, “The Celibate Life” and “Pressed in a Book” are not as formally perfect as what came before, but mainly it all drifts by with the feel of a lost dream. The Shins also come off as very pleasant to listen to and almost effortless, but albums as consistent as Oh Inverted World hardly ever come along.
Best Songs: New Slang, Girl Inform Me, Weird Divide, Girl On the Wing
2003
Chutes too Narrow - 87%
First thought: This really sounds like a rejuvenated band. Though there is something friendly about The Shins- you have to meet them on their own terms. It seems so straight forward but there is a kind of ‘lived in quality’ that comes with absorbing The Shins’ albums; once again, this album is worth the effort. Instead of keeping that kind of 60's psych mood that Oh Inverted World had in spades, the band just become a regular power-pop band, albeit with a couple of unique factors: 1) a lyricist in Mercer that defies the term ‘large vocabulary’; 2) complex song structures in some songs; 3) diverse styles and more genre hoping. To cover the first area, lyrics like "you were poorly dressed as a malcontent" and "I found a fatal flaw in the logic of love and went out of my head" back me up there, and the band ups the ante of the pop song without ever being forceful. For my second point well, I still couldn't hum you "So Says I" even though I have heard it a zillion times, and "Kissing the Lipless" builds and builds into something that sounds catchy but really is just kind of strange, outta place guitar solos and what not.
The last point about styles is one of the albums most charming points, from the la-la 60's throwback "Saint Simon" to the country twang of "Gone for Good", the good though not as distinctive "Young Pilgrims" and "Those to Come", the latter of which are both ballads but couldn't sound more different form each other. There are many other things that distinguish this album from its predecessor, but really what The Shins prove here is that they have huge diversity, not just one specific kind of album in them. “Mine Not a High Horse” is sung in a lower register and has a powerful driving synth line in the chorus, while “So Says I” is more of the usual indie rock-chuggin fun, same can be said about “Fighting In Sack” though this song has a more playful charm to it. That being said, this is not quite as consistent as the debut in my opinion, though it was a great move to make such a different record and have it actually succeed- and the standout tracks are better. Chutes too Narrow got pretty much unanimous praise from critics of the time, and it deserved it all as the band has made two minor masterworks in a row now.
Best Songs: Gone for Good, Saint Simon, Mine’s not a High Horse, Fighting In a Sack
2007
Wincing the Night Away - 58%
This album might as well be called ‘we’re out of ideas’. This is not a disappointment because of the hype or anything like that, it is just a bad album. Mercer barely writes tunes capable of pop radio fame; these are boring songs. The production actually recalls Mummer-era XTC, if that makes any sense. In a society where everything looks 20 years backwards, the album sounds hopelessly 1980's. Songs rip off old ones at times: "A Comet Appears" is the traditional ballad that ends the Shins album except this time it is not as good; "Phantom Limb" is the breakout hit a la "New Slang" alas it’s the albums only good single; "Sleeping Lessons" is the building epic sounding opener, etc.
But hey what do I know, this album was a HUGE success financially for the group :) The problem is none of these songs are great, and besides “Phantom Limb” only "Australia", "Split Needles", and "Turn on Me" with its predictable pop are kind of interesting ("Sealegs", with its dated synth sounds, pretty much destroys itself). That's not a good ratio from one of the most promising bands of the decade, and quite the slump. Let's hope they can recover and Mercer and CO. can regain their senses.
Best Songs: Phantom Limb, Split Needles
Sidenote: After this album, Mercer fired the whole band, and later continued on under the same band name but with a different backing band. I didn’t find too much of the music to my liking (except “Simple Song” from 2012, which is in the vein of their first album), as Mercer went on to collaborate with Danger Mouse in the group Broken Bells and several other sporadic Shins albums. There may be a day I come back to give them a chance.