Port of Morrow - The Shins

Buy It Now

If you're like me, your first experience with ever hearing anything by The Shins was probably in the soundtrack of Garden State. It was also probably the first time you encountered hipsters who casually berated you for having a movie with Queen Amidala and the guy from Scrubs influence your musical taste.

Whether it was this typical occurrence or another one totally unrelated, it is certain you've had a hipster sarcastically teach you the basic tenant of musical discovery: be Christopher Columbus. That is to say the one who wins in musical conquest is the first to claim a new discovery for Hipsterland and have the best argument about how he or she found it first so future generations will remember throughout history (they won't). While I admire hipsters for a.) their blog-reading comprehension skills b.) their love of bullsh!t and c.) their caustic comments that, like an old kung-fu master, make me want to dig deeper inside myself and the Pitchfork website in order to find the chi to defeat them, if they just stopped trying so hard, they would these revered musical professors ... or music Mensa members or something. But they won't. Their hearts are really in the wrong place: somewhere in the body you've probably never heard of. If a tree falls in the woods, a hipster will buy the soundtrack and be the first one to remind you he has it on vinyl.

Forgive me for belaboring, but the fact that I like a Shins album post Wincing the Night Away probably makes me look like the ultimate dolt to some in the aforementioned subculture. First, people know who The Shins are by now. How can they have indie cred if even I know who they are? Second, this band can't be called The Shins in good conscience. We all know better than to call whatever Trent Reznor's doing these days Nine Inch Nails — there's only one nail left. Same goes for frontman James Mercer calling whatever outfit of indie guns-for-hire he's assembled the name of his old group. Whoever was left from the original Albuquerque pioneers was lost to cholera or drowned while fording of the Colorado on the trail to Portland, Ore. Even Mercer, who experimented with DJ Danger Mouse in the group Broken Bells, seemed lost. Now, Mercer is now married and the father of two. Now, after five years, and to everyone's surprise, a new Shins album, Port of Morrow, has surfaced; once more, it's great.

That's not to say Port of Morrow is the best in the catalog — not by a long shot. Even so, Mercer proves once again he is one of indie's most competent songwriters. Accompanying melodies bathed in folk, psychedelic and alt country, Mercer at times seems to channel Win Butler, Brandon Flowers, Bono and even Mark Foster when he's not possessed by his own yearning and sincere tone that made The Shins famous.

Most of the songs on this new album deal with his new family life and his own eclectic childhood in New Mexico. One needs to only start with "Simple Song," an indie-guitar masterpiece coupled with a lyrics on par with Elton John's "Your Song" as an ode to songwriting in itself. And from a pop dimension, Mercer shows his vocal versatility on "September" by moving seamlessly from early '90s U2 into introspective high notes common on softer Killers tracks.

Much of the credit also belongs to producer Greg Kurstin of Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears fame. Under Kurstin's watchful eye, Mercer never stays too still yet always keeps his composure. For example, after the alt country sadness of "For a Fool," Mercer launches into the reggae-pop off-beats of "Fall of '82." To go from one extreme to the other manifests Kurstin's keen sense of mixing by making each song fit in its right place, even when all common sense says these kinds of arrangements shouldn't work.

So, once counted as down and out, The Shins show through Port of Morrow that the group is going to be around for a long time, even if the tenuous indie "cred" from those "who heard them first" falters.

For Your Consideration: Just buy it now.

For Next Time: Maybe the new one from that a-hole Jack White.

P.S.: Some of you who read this say I rely too much on indie rock. The sites I read are the ones that cover this stuff. I also understand the need to step out of my comfort zone. This is another plea for your feedback, whether you give it to me in person or getting to me somehow online. The only criteria are:

1. The album needed to be released in the past month
2. You need to let me know about it.
3. Don't give me the business if I don't like it. If I think it's bad, it's bad and there can be no difference in opinion. j/k ... but not really. My word takes precedence among all others.

Otherwise I'm going to keep doing my thing.