Album Review: The Shins :: Wessex Scene Online

Album Review: The Shins

26th February 2007
Charlotte Ward

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The Shins: ‘Wincing The Night Away’ - What is this weird wobbly stuff? My initial impression after hearing the new Shins album, ‘Wincing The Night Away’. The first track ‘Sleeping Lessons’ appears to project a weird underwater world where everything moves around slowly, but only for the first thirty seconds. After this we return to more familiar territory with a pleasant boppy beat and sunshine-cute lyrics.

This feeling of happy smiley people continues for half of the album with track two, ‘Australia’, expressing this to the fullest extent. In fact, ‘Australia’ becomes a firm favourite during my first exposure to this album.

The best description I can give you is one somewhere between Guillemots and The Kinks...odd I know, but then so is this album!

The other half of the Wincing is the exact opposite of the initial happy tracks; they resonate laziness and misery instead. One of these tracks, ‘Phantom Limb’, is the song which should grab the attention of most music lovers. Tambourine beat in the background, wobbly vocals in the foreground and harmonies which wash over you in a sea of tranquillity, ‘Phantom Limb’ has a wonderfully catch tune which should have you humming for weeks. So who cares if it’s joyless? After all, Morrissey’s made a living as the miserable man of rock.

I don’t mean to portray this album as a symbol of sweetness and light so here are some critical aspects for you to consider. It can sometimes feel that the songs don’t really, well, climax for lack of a better word. There can be a constant sense of "oh, this is nice but when does the chorus begin?" Then there’s the mono-tempo of almost all of the songs. Track five, ‘Sealegs’, is a prime example, leaving you yearning for something a little less lack lustre – some thrash metal may just about balance it out.

Over all, ‘Wincing The Night Away’ is an enjoyable and harmless album. Having listened to it a few times now I quite like it, but if you do buy this album be prepared to put the time in. Definitely a grower, not a shower, but then some people prefer that don’t they?