Album Review: The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

[MEbenhoe]

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

The Shins are one of the few “indie” bands that you would have to have been living under a rock for the past 5 years to not hear of. With their post-Garden State fame and coming off of outstanding back to back albums with Oh, Inverted World and Chutes to Narrow, the release of Wincing the Night Away was highly anticipated by many.

One of the best qualities of any Shins album and still characteristic of Wincing the Night Away is their ability to make brilliant catchy pop music without resorting to the stereotypical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus formula. However, with this album The Shins have taken a large step musically. You won’t find track after track of short cheery verse, but rather you’ll see a more emotionally and musically diverse version of the band. It may be an adjustment for those expecting the classic Shins, but it is an album that will grow on you fast.

Individually there is an abundance of standout tracks on this album. There is the single “Phantom Limb” which, while I may disagree, many are claiming to be one of the Shins best singles ever. We see a little darker version of The Shins in songs like “Split Needles” and “Girl Sailor”. There are more traditional Shins songs like “Sleeping Lessons” and “Australia” that are outstanding and will satisfy those who don’t appreciate the experimentation seen on the rest of the album. Finally, there is what would seem the obvious next single “Turn on Me”.

Its hard to think of an accurate way to describe The Shins to someone who has never heard them, since they don’t really fit the mold of any other pop or indie bands currently out there. If you’ve never heard The Shins, you will likely think this is a great pop album. If you are a long-time Shins fan, you will likely be very surprised, as I was, at the turn they have taken musically, but it grows on you and is close to being on par with their previous two releases, which is quite an accomplishment.

Rating: 9.0/10

Scale
1 – Please destroy all copies of this album so that I don’t have to ever go through listening to this again
2 – Lacks anything good to say about it, but at least it doesn’t put me in pain to hear it
3 – Shows some bright signs, but overall lacks enough good content
4 – A below average entry, lacks uniqueness and relistenability
5 – Average, entertaining at times, but overall nothing special
6 – Slightly Above Average, entertaining with decent relistenability
7 – Above Average, very entertaining
8 – Great Overall Album
9 – One of the Year’s best, Nearing all time Great Status
10 – An Absolutely Perfect Album in every way

p.s. Concert trip report to follow in about a week.

[El Diablo]

M,

I love these reviews, keep it up. When we get a general indie thread going we can link to all of these so they're all easily accessible.

I've only listened to a couple of tracks from this album so far, but really dig them.

[tdarko]

Meb,

This is my favorite Shins album to date. They were always never bad but never great for me, this album is outstanding imo. I have only listened to the album one time through, I will need to go through it more before I would be able to rate it or anything but based on my initial listen it was their best.

[The DaveR]

MEb, I think this might be their best album. I've listened to it every morning at work for the past week. It's hard to express how good a song Phantom Limb is. I also think that Girl Sailor sounds eerily like Men at Work.

[Go_Blue88]

album=awesome. i've been listening to it every night.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

you listen to the new Clap your Hands album yet?

I was pretty unimpressed.

[bozzer]

Thanks a lot for the review - i'll definitely check this album out. I've heard one or two Shins songs before, so have a rough idea of their sound, but will probably prefer their new direction.

[Claunchy]

I'm pretty much on the same page as td regarding the Shins. I've never really been a huge fan, though they were always listenable. But I absolutely love this new album.

[neuroman]

I've been enjoying this album, but I would probably give it a 7.5 or so on the MEbenhoe scale.

[Jack of Arcades]

I have no desire to listen to Shins albums, but I can find nothing wrong with them.