The unique Special Relationship between Britain and the US works like this. We say "Yes Sir" to everything The US Military asks for. Then we get to send our boxers over the Atlantic to be painfully found out by their superior American fighters and in exchange they send us their geeky alt rock bands. Weezer, Ween, They Might Be Giants and now The Shins.
Thing is though, I do like The Shins...so I'm not going to slap them around too much. I first heard the single Phantom Limb last December and it was one of those songs that I instantly fell in love with.
I loved its mix of Jesus and Mary Chain fuzziness, Morrisseyesque phrasing, Beach Boys clear vocals and intriguing lyrics. I got there a bit late though. The Shins love in had already started and I was still wearing my coat. They'd already released two albums and the third was imminent. Now they're here amongst us, on tour....in all their Beardo US Alternative Geekery.
The band formed in 1997 in Albuquerque as a side project for vocalist and songwriter James Mercer who was playing in Flake.
The debut Oh Inverted World came out in 2001 followed by Chutes Too Narrow in 2003. Both albums were well received but the band band’s debut was given a massive boost by the line in the film Garden State when Natalie Portman's character says that The Shins song New Slang "Will change your life".
It also crops up in a Sopranos episode. It's a great tune that fades in as an acoustic picking Simon and Gunfuklesome slice of small town American Pie. It's beardy and Byrdsy with a low key crooned vocal style and some really good lyrics
"Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth" and "God speed all the bakers at dawn, May they all cut their thumbs, And bleed into their buns"
Melodically it's one of their most straightforward songs without their usual tricky twists and turns. The atmosphere comes from the vocal style itself and the warm sound of the lo fi production.
God Inform Me has a Beach Boys type melody, while Pressed In A Book has a Small Faces type sound that contrasts with the high clear vocals. Your Algebra is the albums token bit of weirdness.
The Shins approach to song writing then is to mix up a lot of quite different and often quite English styles. You can hear the influence of The Smiths, or The Cure's poppier singles. The melody lines get complicated and even when it's still verse chorus/verse chorus, there are often so many vocal twists that it takes a few listens before you know where the song is going to go. So you've got to put a bit of effort into it.
2003's Chutes Too Narrow starts tremendously with the splendidly titled Kissing The Lipless. It's got that fuzzy guitar squeal like Buffalo Springfield's Mr Soul or The Flying Burritos Christine's Tune. Which is good...unlike the synth sound on Mines Not A High Horse which verges on the Ultravox and The Full Midge Ure horror. (great crossword clues of our time for a 5 letter word beginning with M. Something small and annoying about Ultravox?) The other elements of the song with its acoustic guitar and tumbling drums sound fine though.
Turn A Square is a lusty song about lust. It's got a great circular riff, coiling round the song like a leery Weezer "Just a glimpse of an ankle and I React like it's 1805".
So Says I is another really convoluted but impossibly catchy melody...you may need a map to see where it's going but it does sound great. It starts like AC/DC but has chiming guitars and that fuzzy Mr Soul sound again.
Wincing The Night Away came out this year and of all the three albums it is the most successful blend yet of their characteristic mix of the tuneful and contrary. Much of the recording was done at Mercer's house.
Opening track Sleeping Lessons starts with the treated keyboard arpeggios that sound like a doo wop Mr Sandman before it goes all a bit Keane/Snow Patrol.
Australia has a fine Pretenders style twangy guitar break, and then with the bass scampering excitedly round Mercer's ankles he goes for the full Morrissey lyrical treatment.
"Been alone since you were twenty-one, You haven't laughed since January. You try and make like this is so much fun, But we know it to be quite contrary".
Sea Legs has a Morrissey yodel and Red Rabbits has another wandering melody with a Teardrop Explodes/Lori and the Chameleons keyboard sound and a mix of slide and pedal steel guitar.
Turn On Me is terrific guitar pop, with understated keyboards and something of the feel of Steve Harley's Come Up And See Me.
But for all the other reference points that you can spot, and for all the Pop that they've evidently soaked up and then tried to squeeze out as something new, the Shins still have that American college band feel. Part of that feel is due to the vocals; that high, American singing style. Is it a whine or a plea? The Shins are cleverer than the last lot they sent us...and it's still a sound we like. I may have been late arrival at the Shins love in, but I'm here now...and I'm down to my socks.
Showing posts with label The Shins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Shins. Show all posts
Monday, March 26, 2007
Monday, January 01, 2007
Phantom Limb - The Shins
Just as I thought that I’d got all my years favourite records mentally wrapped for the festive season, along comes a record that undoes all that Anthea Turner/Nigella Lawson musical planning.
Phantom Limb by Albuquerque based 4 piece The Shins has gone straight to the top of the pile, top of Santa’s list and is scampering up the tree like a bauble crazed kitten, leaving the year’s other singles contenders languishing, unloved, with the slipper and tea towel gift set. The single is released in advance of the bands 3rd album Wincing The Night Away due to be released at the end of January on Sub Pop.
Phantom Limb didn’t so much jump out of the radio; it sort of sidled up to me with a knowing look and an air of “I’ve got all the things you like.” There’s a whiff of Weezer, The Beach Boys and Jesus and Mary Chain’s Some Candy Talking. There’s a touch of a Morrissey inflection to the vocals and a hint of Always The Sun by The Stranglers.
Psychedelic 60’s folky pop meets The Rubinoos soaring Beach Boys Powerpop version of I think We’re Alone Now. I’ll pass (possible mis print) on the Tiffany version. The song starts on a dum de dum bass line (back to the Mary Chain/Shangri las) and the opening guitar chords ring out clearly, but feels like the strings have just been stroked. And I know how they feel.
Singer James Mercer was previously in Flake and has got a high, clear, wide ranging voice and can definitely carry off a Beach Boys type melody. The lyrics sound intriguing and baffling...There’s a line about “They are the fabled lambs, Of Sunday ham” and the slightly more obvious “Another afternoon of the goat-head tunes, And pilfered booze.”
I definitely got the hang of the vocal line “Oh woagh oh oh oh” and sometimes that’s all you need. The icing on the cake for me is the 2 note organ cheese and a twangy guitar on the fade out.
It’s complete twisted pop gorgeousness and I’m really excited by the record and looking forward to hearing the new album and investigating the previous 2 albums, Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow released in 2001 and 2003 respectively.
I instantly liked Phantom Limb, and it set me thinking about another 2 songs that I instantly took to and got that same feeling of “Rightness” from. The thing about listening to Music is sometimes you want to hear brand new stuff, new ideas or be challenged but there are also times when it just sounds great to hear a new song that uses building blocks that you, as a listener, just feel absolutely at home with.
It’s not about being derivative, it’s just good solid house building. The opening bars of The Thrills, One Horse Town has got that Soul Pop opening feel of Gates of The West by The Clash. The bass guitar and the hammered low notes from the non tinkly end of the piano sound like Luther Ingram’s Northern Soul masterpiece If It’s All The Same To You Babe.
It just instantly felt right. I liked the vocals too, dissatisfied, yearning and a bit breathless. Absolutely right for an Irish small town band whose hearts and record collections were in the USA.
"Yeah you're burning
Oh you're burning
My ears with your travelling tales
But my in laws
Oh baby my in laws
Well they're trying to tie a young man down
Well I never should have settled down
Hanging around in a one horse town"
The other record that got me with that instant grab was Belle and Sebastian’s The State I’m In. I first heard it on Mark Radcliffe’s show in 96. The track was from the album Tigermilk that had been recorded as part of a College music course and had been released as a limited edition 1000 copies. I was hanging wallpaper at the time.
I remember my heart sinking as Stuart Murdoch’s high trembling voice started a stately warble across gently strummed guitars. The world did not need more fey indie nonsense. As a reluctant wallpaperer I certainly didn’t need it...except of course...I was wrong. The record gradually builds a momentum and the lyrics are waspish and sharp, clever and Morrissey literate.
"I got married in a rush
To save a kid from being deported
Now she's in love
I was so touched; I was moved to kick the crutches
From my crippled friend
She was not impressed
That I cured her on the Sabbath
So I went to confess
When she saw the funny side,
We introduced my child bride
To whisky and gin"
By the end of the record, I was hooked. In this case it was not so much the sound of the record, but the lyrics and story that had reeled me in. It had knocked my socks off and hung them out to dry along with my pre conceptions.
There have been more than 3 records that I instantly loved. There’ll be others in the future too no doubt.....but for now Phantom Limb and I are definitely making plans.
Phantom Limb by Albuquerque based 4 piece The Shins has gone straight to the top of the pile, top of Santa’s list and is scampering up the tree like a bauble crazed kitten, leaving the year’s other singles contenders languishing, unloved, with the slipper and tea towel gift set. The single is released in advance of the bands 3rd album Wincing The Night Away due to be released at the end of January on Sub Pop.
Phantom Limb didn’t so much jump out of the radio; it sort of sidled up to me with a knowing look and an air of “I’ve got all the things you like.” There’s a whiff of Weezer, The Beach Boys and Jesus and Mary Chain’s Some Candy Talking. There’s a touch of a Morrissey inflection to the vocals and a hint of Always The Sun by The Stranglers.
Psychedelic 60’s folky pop meets The Rubinoos soaring Beach Boys Powerpop version of I think We’re Alone Now. I’ll pass (possible mis print) on the Tiffany version. The song starts on a dum de dum bass line (back to the Mary Chain/Shangri las) and the opening guitar chords ring out clearly, but feels like the strings have just been stroked. And I know how they feel.
Singer James Mercer was previously in Flake and has got a high, clear, wide ranging voice and can definitely carry off a Beach Boys type melody. The lyrics sound intriguing and baffling...There’s a line about “They are the fabled lambs, Of Sunday ham” and the slightly more obvious “Another afternoon of the goat-head tunes, And pilfered booze.”
I definitely got the hang of the vocal line “Oh woagh oh oh oh” and sometimes that’s all you need. The icing on the cake for me is the 2 note organ cheese and a twangy guitar on the fade out.
It’s complete twisted pop gorgeousness and I’m really excited by the record and looking forward to hearing the new album and investigating the previous 2 albums, Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow released in 2001 and 2003 respectively.
I instantly liked Phantom Limb, and it set me thinking about another 2 songs that I instantly took to and got that same feeling of “Rightness” from. The thing about listening to Music is sometimes you want to hear brand new stuff, new ideas or be challenged but there are also times when it just sounds great to hear a new song that uses building blocks that you, as a listener, just feel absolutely at home with.
It’s not about being derivative, it’s just good solid house building. The opening bars of The Thrills, One Horse Town has got that Soul Pop opening feel of Gates of The West by The Clash. The bass guitar and the hammered low notes from the non tinkly end of the piano sound like Luther Ingram’s Northern Soul masterpiece If It’s All The Same To You Babe.
It just instantly felt right. I liked the vocals too, dissatisfied, yearning and a bit breathless. Absolutely right for an Irish small town band whose hearts and record collections were in the USA.
"Yeah you're burning
Oh you're burning
My ears with your travelling tales
But my in laws
Oh baby my in laws
Well they're trying to tie a young man down
Well I never should have settled down
Hanging around in a one horse town"
The other record that got me with that instant grab was Belle and Sebastian’s The State I’m In. I first heard it on Mark Radcliffe’s show in 96. The track was from the album Tigermilk that had been recorded as part of a College music course and had been released as a limited edition 1000 copies. I was hanging wallpaper at the time.
I remember my heart sinking as Stuart Murdoch’s high trembling voice started a stately warble across gently strummed guitars. The world did not need more fey indie nonsense. As a reluctant wallpaperer I certainly didn’t need it...except of course...I was wrong. The record gradually builds a momentum and the lyrics are waspish and sharp, clever and Morrissey literate.
"I got married in a rush
To save a kid from being deported
Now she's in love
I was so touched; I was moved to kick the crutches
From my crippled friend
She was not impressed
That I cured her on the Sabbath
So I went to confess
When she saw the funny side,
We introduced my child bride
To whisky and gin"
By the end of the record, I was hooked. In this case it was not so much the sound of the record, but the lyrics and story that had reeled me in. It had knocked my socks off and hung them out to dry along with my pre conceptions.
There have been more than 3 records that I instantly loved. There’ll be others in the future too no doubt.....but for now Phantom Limb and I are definitely making plans.
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