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| Huh. It's a whole damn event in Wales. |
…which means I’ve got something in common with The Shins’ front-man, James Mercer. I kid, I kid. At any rate, because I didn’t know…well, anything about the band - not even that Zach Braff helped make ‘em famous when he bought “New Slang” for his directorial debut, Garden State - everything I read this week was new to me. For people who kept current on music news just over a decade ago, it’ll be old news. I chose a path and walked it, etc.
Also, just to mention, future features in this project will bounce between bands I’ve listened to from, oh, call it somewhere around the middle of high school to circa 2015 - i.e., the point I stopped really collecting music and became one of the simps who streams everything - and the random new stuff that I’ve discovered since. Enough about me…let’s talk about The Shins!
Who They’re For
Fans of dense, metaphor-laden lyrics backed with an indie-rock sound that (generally) leans acoustic, but still has a reasonable poppiness and accessibility.
The Shins actually started in Albuquerque, New Mexico as an off-shoot of another Mercer-fronted project - first Flake, then Flake Music. Wikipedia’s timeline on all this isn’t perfect, but it looks like most members of the collaborative Flake Music transferred over to the Mercer-dominated The Shins (and Flake Music permanently disbanded in 1999). While the membership shifted around a bit, the original members of The Shins included Mercer (guitar, vocals, songwriting), James Langford (bass), Martin Crandall (keys), and Jesse Sandoval (drums). The band was already tight and touring with a couple established acts - e.g., Cibo Matto and Modest Mouse - but they caught their first real break when Sub Pop’s Jonathan Poneman saw them open for Modest Mouse in San Francisco and offered to release a one-off single - which happened to be “New Slang.” That one single blew up big enough to give the band’s debut album, Oh, Inverted World (2001), a head of steam before it even dropped. And, when it did, it sold about 90,000 more units than Sub Pop expected (100,000) and the band took off. Mercer, who was never shy about licensing his music (what the hell? Get paid, son), boosted the band even more by dishing to McDonald’s for an ad that aired during the Tokyo Olympics in 2001. Mercer relocated to Portland, OR on the royalties, built a basement study for future recording, and started working on 2003’s Chutes Too Narrow…and replacing Langford with David Hernandez from a band called Scared of Chaka. Chutes Too Narrow actually charted (No. 86 on Billboard!), but then the whole Garden State thing happened and The Shins’ first two albums sold even more. The whole she-bang had enough momentum to carry over into Wincing the Night Away (2007), which reached (holy shit!) No. 2 on Billboard.
And…around here, things turn a little dark. Growing restless creatively, Mercer made the decision to cut loose Sandoval and Crandall - and did it rather unceremoniously. It’s a long-ish story of bad communication, meetings arranged with and without management, then called off, resulting hurt feelings, personal growth and some truly remarkable understanding; I’d encourage anyone who’s interested in it to hit the links below to the interview with Sandoval in the Portland Mercury, and the interview with Mercer in Pitchfork, because trying to squeeze it in here will deliver a nuance-free version of a very complicated story. Long story short, Mercer drafted a new band, released 2012’s Port of Morrow, did some acting and maybe a movie soundtrack, etc. The Shins became Mercer, basically, and at least some part of the motivation was trying to do things musically that he felt like he couldn’t do with the original members. “The band” put out one more studio album, 2017’s Heartworms, which returned to something closer to The Shins’ original sound. Speaking solely for myself, that was a good thing, because Port of Morrow puts me to fucking sleep.
One Thing I Read That Felt Like It Speaks to Them
“He's the furthest thing from a malicious person; he's not a prima donna. He's just not that. If he was, if he was the stereotypical lead singer, I think that I would have sort of expected this. So he called me and he told me he wanted to be inspired and he's getting to a phase in his life, a point in his life, where he realized he doesn't really want to be touring anymore. This whole process for him was probably excruciating, I mean, again, he's not a malicious person.”
- Jesse Sandoval (and, to back that up a little, Sandoval said the band always split the money equally when they toured.)
Three Sources
Wikipedia
Portland Mercury, 2009 interview with Sandoval
Pitchfork, 2009 interview with Mercer
Some Songs
I wish I could say falling in love with something on Oh, Inverted World, or even Port of Morrow, but only “New Slang” made the playlist (because it seemed important) and “Caring Is Creepy,” both from Oh, Inverted World. (To answer a question I feel may be coming, “A Simple Song” just doesn’t click with me.) Heartworms, though, is a decent album, it’s got a little more sonic variety, etc. And yet I kept only a couple from that one, “Mildenhall” (which sounds autobiographical?) and the lively “Half a Million” (and does that chorus sound like The Cars to anyone else?). I kept one other Shins’ song for the playlist, “When I Goose-Step,” which I only just now remembered reading was their all-time debut single.
Oh, and I also bopped over to Flake Music to hear what they did, and that’s how “Spanway Hits” and “Structo” wound up on the playlist.
And now, this week’s Top 10
1) Dr. John, “Such a Night,” a pleasant stroll of a song (and I featured Dr. John for another series on this site, for the curious).
2) Serengeti, “Ajai,” which tells of David Cohn’s other alter-ego, besides Kenny Dennis; I’m a sucker for beats and piano.
3) Future Prawn, “Marshmallow Pie,” a good dynamic tune, and I think this is a pretty new project.
4) Mello Music Group, “No Trouble,” which features nice jazzy sampling; turns out Mello Music Group is a Tucson, AZ-based label that drops hip hop compilations.
5) Talk Show Host, “We’re Not Here to Make Friends,” a high-tempo banger by a Canadian indie-punk band that delivers poppy, hooky tunes.
6) Krum/Pigeon John, “Dust You Go,” for fans of low-key hip hop, good match between music and flow; Toledo, OH kid…
7) Joe Walsh (yes, that one), “Life of Illusion,” a rare nostalgia connection for me; this video fascinated me as a kid.
8) Chuck Prophet, “Jesus Was a Social Drinker,” singer/songwriter, long history, hails from Dick Nixon’s alma mater; I can’t say no to that title (and the song is solid).
9) Bones Shake, “Privilege,” snarling, ugly punk from Manchester; tough fit with the rest, but I liked ‘em.
10) Moderator, “Ain’t Nobody Change My Mind,” yes, still on a Moderator kick. From Greece, apparently, and something of a mash-up artist.
And, that’s it all the way down to the new format. Till the next one. The goal at this point is end of week.
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