Sound Republic: Album Reviews

The Shins new album

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By James Alexander
12 January 2007

Album Rating: 4 / 5

Related Artists

The Shins

Related Albums

Wincing The Night Away

It could be said that the Shins third album, Wincing the Night Away is the most heavily anticipated record of 2007. Post Garden State notoriety, the band has reached beyond their indie-darling status to something approaching mainstream recognition.

Recorded over time in James 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. Channeling a Morrissey vibe, "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, fuzztoned epics ("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.

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