The Shins - Phantom Limb Video

The Shins
Phantom Limb
Video

Brought together by a genuine love of pop music – and subsequent eschewal of college aspirations – singer/guitarist James Mercer, drummer Jesse Sandoval, keyboardist Marty Crandall and bassist Dave Hernandez formed The Shins. Mercer had taught himself to play the guitar as a teenager, while listening to bands like My Bloody Valentine and Echo & The Bunnymen. With time, he developed a more pronounced interest in ‘60s pop and the art of well-crafted songwriting. Mercer’s aesthetic, paired with the like-minded sensibilities of his bandmates, gave rise to this most friendly troupe of disbelieving pop heroes. After seeing the band’s San Francisco show (in the midst of their tour opening for Modest Mouse), Sub Pop CEO Jonathan Poneman was smitten. And in 2001 – The Shins spoke their very first words.

To play music for a long time, you have to surprise the people that love you – while also surprising yourself. Enter Wincing the Night Away, The Shins’ third and best album to date.

Recorded over time in Mercer’s basement studio, Phil Ek’s Seattle digs, and in Oregon City with veteran engineer Joe Chiccarelli (Beck, U2) – Wincing the Night Away is a whole new animal. It is the sound of a band growing up and out. Mercer’s infectious, indelible melodic style is still at the core, and unfaltering. But anything can happen around it – and in this case, it does. “Sea Legs” pairs a hip-hop (yes, hip-hop) beat with lush melodic lines and searing guitars. Elsewhere, the band toys with tweaked-out piano steeped in psychedelic strings (“Red Rabbit”); fractured synth samples (“Spilt Needles”); gauzy, arpeggiated keyboards cloaking thunderous anthems (“Sleeping Lessons”); and, taking cues from early Jesus and Mary Chain albums – sweeping, fuzz-toned epics (first single from the release, “Phantom Limb”). Finally, “Turn on Me,” “Girl Sailor” and “Australia” are the lilting, exhilarating, rollicking, rock-solid pop songs we’ve all come to covet from The Shins.