Music Review: The Shins' Wincing the Night Away

Rating: 3/5

This is The Shins’ third album, Wincing the Night Away. After Natalie Portman’s Garden State character mentioned the band in the movie, more and more people started to pay attention to them. Who knew that Zach Braff had enough power to bring a band to fame? Or maybe it was Braff’s music tastes that helped to get him
more attention. Who knows.

My first reaction when I listened to the first song was, “Great. Another electronic techno something.” My reaction by the end of the CD? It was a compilation of songs that seemed to fit with the same sound that made the foursome exactly what they are. The third album is an extension of what we’ve heard before.

Somehow, that electronic techno something, a.k.a. "Sleeping Lessons", had the ability to speed up into a song that grew on me. Of course, this happened with the addition of more guitars and a good beat, though it came later than I would have preferred.

"Australia" is a song that anyone can hear without really listening to the lyrics, but when you stop, it's not really something you would expect. The song’s last lines read, "You don’t know how long I’ve been/ Watching the lantern dim/ Starved of oxygen/ So give me your hand and let’s jump out the window." This song is my favorite on the CD. I’m a bigger fan of The Shins’ faster, more upbeat songs, and this is it.

Somehow, the third track on the album, "Pam Berry", seemed out of touch with the rest. It’s a 57-second, darker song possibly put in to off set some of the happier tones of the disk. Personally, I could have been happy if it were left it out of the album.

"Sea Legs" and "Red Rabbits" are songs that lack that upbeat appealing factor that we all love so much about the band, but they add in balance from some of the others. I suppose we couldn’t just have too much of the same type of music, could we?

Track 8, "Black Wave", had a guitar riff in the background that made me want to just sit and stare off into space, as if in a completely sober trance. I can’t tell if I enjoyed it or not, but it was a combination of the guitar and the echoes in James Mercer’s voice that had the effect, of that I’m sure.

After it all, did it change my life? I can’t say that it did. But it made me happy while I was listening to it, and that has to count for something. In the end, I think this CD will be something that old fans and new listeners will come to enjoy, though I must say I do like their second album better.

Standout Songs:

Australia

Phantom Limb

Split Needles

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