The Shins Wincing the Night Away Music
by The Shins

About this Music

Their third album is the sound of a band growing up and out. James Mercer's infectious, indelible melodic style is still at the core, but on various songs he also channels a Morrissey vibe, pairs a hip-hop beat with lush melodic lines and searing guitars, toys with tweaked-out piano steeped in psychedelic strings, utilizes fractured synth samples, adds gauzy, arpeggiated keyboards that cloak thunderous anthems, and even takes cues from early Jesus And Mary Chain sweeping, fuzz-toned epics. The album also contains the lilting, exhilarating, rollicking, rock-solid pop songs we've all come to covet from The Shins.

Indie-rock's hardest-working slackers finally release their third album, on which they've made the clear transition from bedroom-pop to stadium-rock without losing everything that makes them great. Those soaring vocals that sound like the unholiest collision of the Cure and Simon and Garfunkel, the nimble pop hooks that are never overused, those lyrics that are as self-deprecating and razor sharp as they are playful--dude, it's all still here. Relax, you can still swoon. Musically, there are some new elements, from the ragged surf-rock that propels "Pam Berry" to the near hip-hop beats of "Sea Legs" and percolating electronica on "Sleeping Lessons" (which two thirds of the way through shows Band of Horses how to write a song). Wincing is neither the clever genre recombinant exercise of their second album nor is it the perfect little self-contained universe of their debut. This is not the Shins' best album; it's their growing pains third record. James Mercer has learned how to shout his words so the folks in the back row can hear; a slightly harder edge and more confidence is on display. But it doesn't gel fully. Mercer remains one of the most talented songwriters working in pop today, and what this album proves is that the group deserves to move beyond the little Zach-Braff-movie-watching, This-American-Life-listening, Frappuccino-sipping demo-ghetto they've found themselves in. Wincing confidently bristles with stupendous and smart rock music that deserves to be enjoyed by your kid brother and your folks as much as your dorm-mates. --Mike McGonigal

The Shins Get Their "Sea Legs"

More from the Shins & Friends

Oh, Inverted World

Chutes Too Narrow

Garden State Soundtrack (Features tracks by the Shins)