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SHINS, THE - PORT OF MORROW
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ARTIST:
TITLE:
Port of Morrow
LABEL:
CATNO:
88691926701
STYLE:
FORMAT:
Vinyl record
DESCRIPTION:
James Mercer returns with the much anticipated fourth album from The Shins. Recorded in LA and Portland. Lp provides his distinctive vocals, James also plays the majority of the instrumentation on the album too.
Arriving five years after Wincing the Night Away, Port of Morrow was the first Shins album to appear on James Mercer's Aural Apothecary imprint (also home to Broken Bells, his collaboration with Danger Mouse) and the first without the rest of the band that appeared on the remainder of their discography. Instead, Mercer assembled a revolving cast of supporting performers that included Modest Mouse's Joe Plummer, Crystal Skulls' Yuuki Matthews, drummer-at-large Janet Weiss, and producer Greg Kurstin, who gives the album a big, radio-friendly sound.
There's no pretense of democracy nor of being "indie" here, things that might be easier to decry if these weren't some of Mercer's best songs since Chutes Too Narrow. Though there's no core band, Port of Morrow feels more focused than Wincing the Night Away even as Mercer departs from the Shins' classic sound. "The Rifle's Spiral" begins the album with keyboards that bounce and bubble everywhere, suggesting some of Broken Bells' influence has rubbed off, but the contrast between sweet vocals and barbed words ("you were always to be a dagger floating straight to their heart") that has been a key element since Oh, Inverted World is present and accounted for. Later, "Simple Song" feels downright triumphant, with big, airy bridges, a surprising minor-key chord change, and frantic guitar solos all coated in pop gloss. Mercer goes farther afield as Port of Morrow progresses, flirting with '70s soft rock on "For a Fool," while the title track is equal parts trippy and torchy, pairing a slinky falsetto with some of the album's most arresting imagery ("there are flowers in the garbage and a skull under your curls"). Consciously or not, Mercer channels classic singer/songwriters and members of famed bands gone solo on some of Port of Morrow's highlights: "Fall of '82" is as wordy, bouncy, and catchy as Billy Joel at his peak, while "It's Only Life"'s charming melody and message to take it easy make it the distant cousin of John Lennon's "Watching the Wheels." Enough of the album finds Mercer expanding and experimenting that when "Bait and Switch," which sounds like a lost Oh, Inverted World track transplanted to much fancier digs, or the Chutes Too Narrow-like rumination "September" pops up, it's almost startling. These are some of Mercer's most wide-ranging songs with any of his projects, to the point where it might be a little disingenuous to call this a Shins album, and slightly disappointing for any fans who had invested in them being a band rather than a James Mercer vehicle. Questions of semantics and authenticity aside, Port of Morrow's songs are compelling enough to keep most fans listening and enjoying.
Arriving five years after Wincing the Night Away, Port of Morrow was the first Shins album to appear on James Mercer's Aural Apothecary imprint (also home to Broken Bells, his collaboration with Danger Mouse) and the first without the rest of the band that appeared on the remainder of their discography. Instead, Mercer assembled a revolving cast of supporting performers that included Modest Mouse's Joe Plummer, Crystal Skulls' Yuuki Matthews, drummer-at-large Janet Weiss, and producer Greg Kurstin, who gives the album a big, radio-friendly sound.
There's no pretense of democracy nor of being "indie" here, things that might be easier to decry if these weren't some of Mercer's best songs since Chutes Too Narrow. Though there's no core band, Port of Morrow feels more focused than Wincing the Night Away even as Mercer departs from the Shins' classic sound. "The Rifle's Spiral" begins the album with keyboards that bounce and bubble everywhere, suggesting some of Broken Bells' influence has rubbed off, but the contrast between sweet vocals and barbed words ("you were always to be a dagger floating straight to their heart") that has been a key element since Oh, Inverted World is present and accounted for. Later, "Simple Song" feels downright triumphant, with big, airy bridges, a surprising minor-key chord change, and frantic guitar solos all coated in pop gloss. Mercer goes farther afield as Port of Morrow progresses, flirting with '70s soft rock on "For a Fool," while the title track is equal parts trippy and torchy, pairing a slinky falsetto with some of the album's most arresting imagery ("there are flowers in the garbage and a skull under your curls"). Consciously or not, Mercer channels classic singer/songwriters and members of famed bands gone solo on some of Port of Morrow's highlights: "Fall of '82" is as wordy, bouncy, and catchy as Billy Joel at his peak, while "It's Only Life"'s charming melody and message to take it easy make it the distant cousin of John Lennon's "Watching the Wheels." Enough of the album finds Mercer expanding and experimenting that when "Bait and Switch," which sounds like a lost Oh, Inverted World track transplanted to much fancier digs, or the Chutes Too Narrow-like rumination "September" pops up, it's almost startling. These are some of Mercer's most wide-ranging songs with any of his projects, to the point where it might be a little disingenuous to call this a Shins album, and slightly disappointing for any fans who had invested in them being a band rather than a James Mercer vehicle. Questions of semantics and authenticity aside, Port of Morrow's songs are compelling enough to keep most fans listening and enjoying.
PRICE:
£16.49
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Mint (M)
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Mint (M)
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Last FM Information on The Shins
Please note the information is done on a artist keyword match and data is provided by LastFM.
The Shins is an American indie rock band centered around James Mercer.
The band formed in 1997, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States as a side project of Mercer (previously of Blue Roof Dinner) and drummer Jesse Sandoval, who were both members of Flake Music. The band's original lineup was Mercer (vocals, guitar), Sandoval (drums), Marty Crandall (keyboards) and Dave Hernandez (bass). Neil Langford replaced Hernandez in 1998. Hernandez returned to the band in 2003, as Langford had left the band in 2001. Hernandez remained in the band until 2009. Fruit Bats keyboardist Eric Johnson joined the band in 2006.
Their debut album, Oh, Inverted World was issued in 2001 and contained the singles "New Slang" and "Caring is Creepy", which were both featured in the 2004 film "Garden State". The band's next album, Chutes Too Narrow was released in 2003 and featured the single "So Says I". The band's third album Wincing The Night Away, was released in 2007 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 charts, the highest charting album in Sub Pop history until Arcade Fire's"The Suburbs" debuted at #1. After a short hiatus, Mercer announced in 2009 that the band was to record a new album and that Marty Crandall, and Jesse Sandoval were no longer members of The Shins. The band's new lineup included James Mercer, Eric Johnson, Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer and Grand Archives keyboardist Ron Lewis.
Before the release of Port of Morrow, the band lineup changed once more with only Mercer and Plummer remaining from the previously announced lineup. The newly added members were announced as guitarist Jessica Dobson, bassist Yuuki Matthews (formerly of Crystal Skulls) and keyboardist Richard Swift.
The Simple Song Songfacts reports that "Simple Song." was the first single from the Port Of Morrow album, the band's debut release on James Mercer's Aural Apothecary record label. It was also the first offering to be heard from the band following the departure of Jesse Sandoval and Marty Crandall.
The current line-up for the live act is James Mercer (vocals, guitar), Jessica Dobson (guitar), Yuuki Matthews (bass), Richard Swift (keyboards) and Joe Plummer (drums).
2017 - Fifth Album & World Tour
The band released their 5th studio album, "Heartworms" on March 10, 2017 on the Aural Apothecary/Columbia Records, together with a supporting world tour. "Heartworms" features Mercer's most diverse lyrical palette to date: From fictional character sketches ('Fantasy Island', 'Rubber Ballz'), autobiographical accounts ('Mildenhall'), to first single 'Name For You', a resounding call for female empowerment inspired by Mercer’s three daughters.
More information:
*http://www.theshins.com
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shins
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