The Shins Comeback Special

Of course, ‘surprise’ and ‘a long time’ are both relative in the inverted world of The Shins. Since the band’s sold-out NZ visit in 2005 as the rising stars of the indie underground, their third album Wincing The Night Away has achieved the highest debut chart position and first weekly sales of any release on the iconic Sub Pop label, the combined sales of their three albums have passed the one million mark, and the band have headlined two nights at the Hollywood Bowl. See – Natalie Portman was quite right about the band in Zach Braff’s movie Garden State, which prominently featured the band’s ‘New Slang’. If it seemed to you that this would be the group to completely reinvigorate the indie rock world with their skilful melodic collision of 60s, 80s, and 21st century pop sensibilities, then you were right as well.

Based in the Pacific Northwest city of Portland, Oregon (a place with more bookstores, coffee shops, strip clubs and earth-shaking bands per square mile than any other in the USA) The Shins are singer/guitarist James Mercer, drummer Jesse Sandoval, keyboardist Marty Crandall, bassist Dave Hernandez and multi-instrumentalist Eric Johnson. Initially drawing inspiration from the twisted dark pop of My Bloody Valentine, Echo & the Bunnymen and the Jesus & Mary Chain, the group learned the lessons and began crafting exquisite, exhilarating pop with multi-layered lyrical inventiveness and a fresh individualist sensibility. The distance from being the opening act on a Modest Mouse tour to headlining the world’s stages? Well, this can be measured by the progression from the smart, jangly alterna-pop of 2001’s self-recorded Oh! Inverted World debut, the more complex structures and hi-fidelity production of its follow-up Chutes Too Narrow in 2003, to the all-creative- guns-blazing, explosion-of-imagination, sweeping grandeur of 2007’s Wincing The Night Away. But if that sounds like reinvention, the essence of the Shins – the melodies, the melodies! – remain the defining characteristic of the group’s work.

They say there’s no second chances in this world, but The Shins don’t forget their friends: New Zealand now has another opportunity to catch this most friendly troupe of disbelieving pop heroes and their lilting, rollicking, rock-solid songs, as they have kindly included us in their tour schedule between a US/Canadian tour and their hotly-anticipated British festival dates. Joining them at both engagements are Lil Chief Records pop sensations RYAN McPHUN & THE RUBY SUNS.

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