Soundbite: The Shins
By Taleen Kalenderian
Jan. 15, 2007 9:00 p.m.
The Shins
“Wincing The Night Away”
Sub Pop Records
More than two years since Natalie Portman insisted that The
Shins would change your life, “Wincing the Night Away,”
the band’s third full-length album, is finally nearing its
long-awaited release date.
What many forget to consider, however, is a little detail of
release dates. “Chutes Too Narrow,” The Shins’
sophomore album, was released prior to “Garden State,”
the film that made the two life-changing songs from the first album
famous, pushing the band to the forefront of indie sub-stardom.
That The Shins’ new material took a backseat for a time
may be why “Wincing the Night Away” is the product of
an unassuming band having some sorting out to do.
The opening song, “Sleeping Lessons,” is an open
canvas erected as one of the album’s memorable bookends,
building slowly off a swaying Zombies feel and flourishing into a
space of pop-laden exuberance. “A Comet Appears” gently
lulls the album to a twangy, twinkling finish, courtesy of a
harmonium.
But that’s no testament to track-by-track cohesion. The
meat of the album is composed of nostalgic Shins numbers arranged
carefully in a blender with songs trying to take on a new
direction.
The result is one which confesses an investment in safety for
the larger part of the record. With songs such as “Split
Needles” and “Girl Sailor” sounding too afraid
for departure (wincing, if you will), a number like “Sea
Legs,” Morrissey timbre and hip-hop beat alike, seems a
shocking arrival.
This doesn’t make the album anything short of charming,
however.
For instance, the band provides a quiet homage to the shorter
songs from albums of old with the spooky minute-long strums and
flutters of “Pam Berry.”
Tracks such as “Turn On Me” (akin to “Gone for
Good” from “Chutes”) and “Red
Rabbits” are catchy, vintage Shins, insistent on
enjoyment.
“Phantom Limb” is the shimmering single of
“Wincing.” It holds the album’s shaky balance
together and introduces front man James Mercer’s more clever
vocal twists, ornamenting the hi-fi production and developed
textures that time afforded the band.
Whether “Garden State”-bred fans are already busy
changing their lives with their umpteenth listen (the album did
leak on the Internet well ahead of 2007), “Wincing the Night
Away” is no magnum opus.
It is at once part struggle with new material and part good
ol’ Shins fun which yields, incidentally, a delicate handful
of beautiful numbers ““ and enough reason for Hollywood to
keep up with their pace this time around.
E-mail Kalenderian at [email protected].
