2008 Woodie Awards
For the Record
Melissa Marshall
Issue date: 2/14/07 Section: Arts
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In a "Garden State-esque" instant, I found myself returning to my dorm room on a cold Saturday night before the start of Spring semester. And as I stared at the four walls that surround my bed, I realized that I was indeed homesick for a place that didn't exist anymore. With such existential thoughts as this and whether a Cup of Noodles was worth a year off my life, I settled into my room on the fifth floor in a building with no elevator - visitors are as likely as a decent dinner in Atwater. And as I braced myself for an evening of contemplative insomnia, I unzipped my suitcase to discover Wincing the Night Away in its natural habitat between an over-sized tunic and a pair of skinny jeans. Suddenly the Vermont stars didn't seem as small and strange outside my skylight as James Mercer's plaintive vocals echoed through my worn speakers.
In a cinematic moment that would cement The Shins as indie-pop royalty, Natalie Portman places a pair of air-traffic-controller-inspired headphones on Zach Braff, assuring him, "You got to hear this one song. It'll change your life, I swear." And just as "Garden State" has become a staple of the contemplative alt-scene, The Shins have become the reluctant poster boys of reflective, literary rock. With their January release, Wincing the Night Away, James Mercer and the Shins have stared down the Goliath of corporate success generated by the little film that could, creating a record both experimental yet comforting, surprising yet soothing.
Wincing the Night Away may be the band's most polished attempt thanks to their growing success propelled by a quirky Natalie Portman, but oddly enough, it is also their most dissonant. Although one would never call The Shins "radio-friendly" exactly, their previous releases Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow contained hooks and beats that had the disenchanted bopping. "Phantom Limb," the first single off the new release, is probably the track with the most pop-catch appeal, supported by the intriguing yet not alienating experimental rhythms typical to the band that is from Albuquerque but calls Portland home. Even though "Phantom Limb" may seem the safest track on the record, its lyrics are anything but conservative. In a February 2007 issue of Paste Magazine, Mercer admits that much of the inspiration for the track about two teenage lesbians and the isolation they feel at a small-town high school was "actually the alienation I felt growing-up, just re-contextualized." And these sentiments of estrangement, heartache and, ultimately, loneliness are a staple of a band whose silvery melodies have audiences smiling and bobbing.
In a cinematic moment that would cement The Shins as indie-pop royalty, Natalie Portman places a pair of air-traffic-controller-inspired headphones on Zach Braff, assuring him, "You got to hear this one song. It'll change your life, I swear." And just as "Garden State" has become a staple of the contemplative alt-scene, The Shins have become the reluctant poster boys of reflective, literary rock. With their January release, Wincing the Night Away, James Mercer and the Shins have stared down the Goliath of corporate success generated by the little film that could, creating a record both experimental yet comforting, surprising yet soothing.
Wincing the Night Away may be the band's most polished attempt thanks to their growing success propelled by a quirky Natalie Portman, but oddly enough, it is also their most dissonant. Although one would never call The Shins "radio-friendly" exactly, their previous releases Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow contained hooks and beats that had the disenchanted bopping. "Phantom Limb," the first single off the new release, is probably the track with the most pop-catch appeal, supported by the intriguing yet not alienating experimental rhythms typical to the band that is from Albuquerque but calls Portland home. Even though "Phantom Limb" may seem the safest track on the record, its lyrics are anything but conservative. In a February 2007 issue of Paste Magazine, Mercer admits that much of the inspiration for the track about two teenage lesbians and the isolation they feel at a small-town high school was "actually the alienation I felt growing-up, just re-contextualized." And these sentiments of estrangement, heartache and, ultimately, loneliness are a staple of a band whose silvery melodies have audiences smiling and bobbing.
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