With their music referred to as “life-changing” in the popular 2004 film GARDEN STATE, the Shins, already a revered indie-rock band, recorded their third Sub Pop studio album under the weight of high expectations. Finally, in early ‘07, the group emerged with the strikingly ambitious and accomplished WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY.

On the opening “Sleeping Lessons,” woozy keyboard lines and the wavering vocals of frontman James Mercer immediately announce WINCING as a departure, but slowly the drifting atmospherics give way to a guitar-driven rave-up. Much of the record echoes this more expansive sound, with the shimmering “Phantom Limb” hitting a cavernous crescendo, and the dreamy, synth-laden “Red Rabbits” bordering on ambient territory. Of course, the Shins haven’t forsaken their knack for pop-perfect tunes, as best evinced by the exuberant “Australia,” proving that they can temper newfound experimentalism with the quirky, easy-going charm that garnered them attention in the first place.

Tracklisting
1. Sleeping Lessons
2. Australia
3. Pam Berry
4. Phantom Limb
5. Sea Legs
6. Red Rabbits
7. Turn On Me
8. Black Wave
9. Spilt Needles
10. Girl Sailor
11. A Comet Appears

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.71) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “The melodies are very nearly on par with the curlicues and knockout drops of the band’s breakthrough, and Mercer is still singing so lithe and refined you’d think Ray Charles had never existed.”

Spin (p.p.87) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “[W]istful….WINCING is a purposefully low-impact affair. On the gorgeous finale, ‘A Comet Appears,’ Mercer picks at a nimble guitar line like it’s 3 a.m….”

Q (p.100) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[S]uper-smart pop music the way they used to make it 20 years ago….The Shins deliver anthems to little people in troubled times. Life-changing, for sure.”

Uncut (p.72) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[E]verything is awash in shimmering production, harmonic flourishes and unexpected textures.”

Alternative Press (p.109) – “[T]he bright points are plenty bright…”

Q (Magazine) (p.87) – Ranked #08 in Q’s “The 50 Best Albums Of 2007.”

Mojo (Publisher) (p.100) – 4 stars out of 5 — “There are twists, but no clutter, just a gentle lyricism leaving every song lie from the inside. WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY is, on its own quiet terms, a little landmark.”

The Shins appeared out of the middle of New Mexico as if by magic, though they had been around for a while under several other names on several different labels. In a landscape of boy bands, pre-teen chanteuses, and nu metal, the literate, ’60s-influenced jangle of the Shins’ debut seems a bizarre anomaly. This is indie rock that channels Love and Creation rather than the Ramones and Sex Pistols.

Standouts include “One by One All Day,” with its Space Invader intro, rattling drums, and retro keyboard solo, the gentle “Weird Divide,” which highlights James Mercer’s Brian Wilson-esque voice, and “Your Algebra,” with its echoing vocals and guitar arpeggios. Arguably, the album’s best track is “New Slang,” which begins with the lines “Gold teeth and a curse for this town are all in my mouth/Only I don’t know how they got out.” For listeners with a computer, the disc also contains a charming if very low-fi video for “New Slang.”

Tracklisting
1. Caring Is Creepy
2. One by One All Day
3. Weird Divide
4. Know Your Onion!
5. Girl Inform Me
6. New Slang
7. Celibate Life
8. Girl on the Wing
9. Your Algebra
10. Pressed in a Book
11. Past and Pending

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (8/16/01, p.105) – 3.5 stars out of 5 – “…Their pop songs jangle without being too sunny….These 11 songs whiz by in a gorgeous blur, over far too soon.”

Q (May 2002, pp.119-121) – 3 out of 5 stars – “…The Shins fall into the folk category, focusing on hazy Beach Boys pop and swooning Simon & Garfunkel harmonies…”

CMJ (8/01, p.89) – “…Palpable, ’60s-influenced jangle pop….one of the most consistently enjoyable takes on Brian Wilson…”

Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.68) – Ranked #14 in Mojo’s “Best [40] Albums of 2001″.

Mojo (Publisher) (9/01, p.99) – “…[Their] lovely jangly appeal is all their own…”

NME (Magazine) (5/18/02, p.35) – 8 out of 10 – “…Evokes the shimmering coastlines and baked desertscapes of California with a vivid beauty seldom glimpsed since The Beach Boys hung up their surfboards…”

When the Shins bowled over music fans and critics alike in 2001 seemingly out of nowhere (but actually out of Albuquerque and years of playing together) with OH, INVERTED WORLD, their stunningly beautiful debut, the comparisons came pouring in. Scribes likened their insistent, melodic sound and James Mercer’s hyper-literate, oblique but mellifluous lyrics to many mostly anachronistic, all deeply revered sources, including everything from the Beach Boys to Love.

The follow-up, CHUTES TOO NARROW, meets and often manages to exceed the tremendous, burgeoning buzz surrounding it. Mercer and co. retain all the elements that made their debut delectable, as the melodies flow hither and thither, a subtle rapture confident in its ability to entrance. Delicately crafted yet explosively poetic lines again abound (such as “secretly I want to bury in the yard the grey remains of a friendship scarred”), and by the time the sing-a-long of “So Says I” kicks in, the die is cast. Nestled near the end of the consistently captivating record is the countrified should-be classic “Gone for Good.” With its riding-the-rails beat and irrefutable lyrical hook, it seems to sum up the pensive feel of the whole record, “I find a fatal flaw in the logic of love and go out of my head.” Such ponderous musings rarely ever sounded so good.

Tracklisting
1. Kissing The Lipless
2. Mine’s Not A High Horse
3. So Says I
4. Young Pilgrims
5. Saint Simon
6. Fighting In A Sack
7. Pink Bullets
8. Turn A Square
9. Gone For Good
10. Those To Come

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (12/25/03, p.110) – Included in Rolling Stone’s “50 Best Albums of 2003″

Rolling Stone (11/13/03, p.94) – 4 stars out of 5 – “…The Shins…have not only assimilated several decades of Brit rock, chamber pop, and DIY punk but have nonchalantly slipped those influences into their own intricate yet durable musical designs…”

Spin (12/03, p.133) – “…The Shins are reverent and reverential, practically documenting their source material with footnotes…” – Grade: B

Entertainment Weekly (12/26/03-1/2/04, p.140) – Ranked #4 in Entertainment Weekly’s 2003 “Records of the Year” – “…[The band is] sharp enough to set Mercer’s radiant tunes and keening, affectless voice to the crispest and meatiest of indie rock.”

Q (4/04, p.120) – 4 stars out of 5 – “[I]ntelligent, melodic and offbeat – without falling into the trap of being goofy. Have indie rock’s saviours arrived?”

Uncut (4/04, p.107) – 4 stars out of 5 – “10 perfect songs constructed from wit, electricity and the broken bones of the heart.”

Uncut (p.76) – Ranked #39 in Uncut’s “Best New Albums of 2004″ – “[With] killer melodies that were as voluptuous as they were wholly original.”

Magnet (11/03, p.109) – “…A sonically bolder production with fewer effects and more hooks per square inch than a flyrod factory…”

CMJ (11/3/03, p.9) – “…Making for perfect mixtape material, the quartet now returns with a quieter sophomore effort–one that suits the hunger for a soft, melodic album to provide comfort in the privacy of bedroom listening…”

Mojo (Publisher) (4/04, p.98) – 5 stars out of 5 – “An existential obstacle course. A meditation on the ineffable mysteries of love. An incredible pop record. The second album by The Shins is all this and more….It’s a tour de force of concision…”