Bruised Shins
Photo courtesy of Sub Pop Records
After breaking up, reforming, and metamorphasizing, the Shins pick up their musical pieces and turn lemons into lemonade.
by JACQUELINE McCLURE
When actor Zach Braff helped rocket the Shins career on the 2004 Grammy award-winning Garden State soundtrack, their struggling artist days were over. The movie grossed over 26 million and shot record sales of the Shins’ debut album “Oh, Inverted World” up 400 percent. Now re-emerging after four years from tours and recording, the Shins are back on the charts with Wincing The Night Away, at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums and No. 20 on Top 200 Albums.
In the 21st century music industry where indie-rock is the new pop with reigning artists such as Death Cab For Cutie, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, and Snow Patrol, to name a handful, the Shins have managed to separate themselves from this group on their new album, graduating to a new branch of the genre.
By incorporating 1960s psychedelic sounds with 1980s-infused British New Wave, songs such as “Sleeping Lessons” begin like a wrong turn down an acid trip ally, yet come together to make complete sense half way through with a built-up crescendo of rock symphony melted in. However, songs such as “Turn On Me”stay true to the roots of Mercer’s metaphoric writing styles with lyrics such as “You can fake it for a while/Bite your tongue and smile/Like every mother does an ugly child.”
Ten years ago, the Shins started out in Albuquerque, N.M., as a side project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, whose primary band was Flake Music. Mercer formed Flake Music in 1992 with Jesse Sandoval on drums, Marty Crandall on bass, and guitarist Neal Langford. After five years of releasing several singles, a full-length album, and touring with Modest Mouse, the band members went their separate ways and Mercer created the Shins with Sandoval.
CATCH THE SHINS IN D.C.:
- Mar. 12, DAR Constitution Hall, 1776 D St., N.W. Tickets available at: Ticketmaster.com
While the duo was creating a local buzz, they realized the Shins needed to be a full band and recruited Dave Hernandez on bass and Crandall again, but this time on keyboard. After almost a year as this lineup, the Shins embarked on a tour with Modest Mouse. Along the tour, Sub Pop’s co-founder Jonathan Poneman caught a show and asked the band to contribute a single to the label’s Single of the Month Club, which later became an offer to release the Shins’ 2001 single, “New Slang” and their debut album, Oh, Inverted World. Other releases such as “Know Your Onion!” and “The Past and Pending” kept the Shins’ success going into 2002, making Oh, Inverted World, a cornerstone of indie-rock albums to come.
If you’re looking for something original in the sea of self-proclaimed indie-rockers or willing to break away from pop star princesses, the Shins’ Wincing The Night Away is refreshing, original, and keeping with what indie stands for — independent.
Top songs on Wincing The Night Away:
1) “Turn On Me”
2) “Sea Legs”
3) “Phantom Limb”
