After ten years of being relatively underground would you Adam and Eve it that The Shins are now global? And rightly so! They may have waited almost three years to release their follow-up to 2003's wonderful Chutes Too Narrow record but latest release Wincing The Night Away has made the wait worthwhile. Infectuous, clever, well crafted pop music at its best!
After their music was used to great effect in Zach Braff's wonderfully off-beat Garden State movie, the gateway to the world seemed to be opened to the band. That they now owned the keys was merely confirmed when the simply gorgeous 'New Slang' featured in a Guinness ad! haha!
All at the Sub-Pop label must be well pleased and are now reaping the benefits of sticking with The Shins all this time. Wincing The Night Away has reached number two in the American Billboard chart - the highest chart position for any album released solely on the Sub-Pop label.
Like I touched on before, it's great to see a label investing time on their bands. Sadly it doesn't work that way on this side of the pond. It's difficult to expect morons who struggle to give you the time of day when you enthusiastically try to pass them your magnum opus of a demo to invest time on you when the world doesn't come knocking the minute your first release is out. The UK and Ireland is over-populated with Band road-kill, all cut down before they had time to develop and make a record like The Shins has just done. Frontman James Mercer is lucky he got out of England when he did!
Here's their latest single 'Phantom Limb', and also from 2003 the gorgeous 'New Slang'.
