Shins Take MSG

On Wednesday, March 14 at Madison Square Garden, NYC, James Mercer of the Shins could be heard humbly thanking the crowd for coming, marveling over and over at the number of people sprawled out before him, but not until after a breathtaking, energetic opener of "Sleeping Lessons." The clearly sung line "You're not obliged to swallow anything you despise" set the tone for the show and felt like a statement in defense of going against the grain, even when that grain is the "indie" image, and a timely message to old fans and curious new listeners alike. It also set the stage for some powerful rockouts, classic Shins goodness, and a few surprises.

The set was fairly minimalistic, with hanging strands of simple white lights standing out like makeshift stars. A single spotlight zoomed in on Mercer for calm, evocative performances of "A Comet Appears" and "Pink Bullets". The set was a mix of songs from "Wincing The Night Away" (including, of course, "Phantom Limb"), "Chutes Too Narrow," and "Oh, Inverted World." There was even an encore cover of a song by obscure late-seventies band The Modern Lovers. Openers Viva Voce (a male / female duo who projected folk vibes along with guitar wailing and repeatedly assured the audience that they "don't f*ck around") accompanied them onstage for instrumental work and some singing. The Shins showed off the energy that's only hinted at in their albums by giving some of their well-known classics a harder, faster edge and bouncing around onstage. At the same time, claim-to-fame "New Slang" was softened and slowed down, given an almost-acoustic feel. "Pressed In A Book" was given a momentous, stretched-out beginning and, like "Girl On The Wing," sounded delightfully different from a straight listen off "Oh, Inverted World."

Mercer's interactions with the crowd included the aforementioned endearing, incredulous thanks and an introduction of new Shin Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats. The Shins are also apparently able to marry couples, or at least condone a makeout session and then dedicate "Turn On Me" to the participants. Not overly talkative or stone-faced, Mercer communicated well with the gathered fans, although it was clear that his main focus was on the music.

The only drawback of the show in my opinion was the lack of "Sea Legs" from the new album, which would have fit perfectly as an encore, and someone a few seats down showed agreement by shouting out the song title. Perhaps the more pop-influenced song would have been too much of a departure from the norm too soon.

Still, the Shins proved they can rock, rock a big crowd, and rock with a true integrity and sense of themselves and their work. I'd very much recommend seeing them live!

More On The Shins

Following up Joyful Girl's marvelous post below, I wanted to share a bit more on these indie rock darlings. They are blowing up, you see, and here's the goods so you can say you knew the band back when they were still (relatively) small:

The band will release their studio effort "Wincing the Night Away" on January 23 in the U.S. The first single, "Phantom Limb," is all over the Internets, but we'll get come back to that in a minute. First, be sure to check out one or several of The Shins' upcoming appearances and events over the next few weeks:

January 13: The Shins are the musical guests on Saturday Night Live! SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE! It's my dick, in a box!

January 18: Starting on this day, and running through Jan. 21st, you can stream Wincing the Night Away, in its entirety, on Myspace!

January 22: The Shins will be performing live at midnight at the Virgin Records in New York's Union Square. Buy a copy of the record at Virgin and you get in to see them play!

January 23: Not only does Wincing the Night Away come out on this day, but also the band will be playing on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman! DAVID LETTERMAN!

January 26: In the morning, The Shins will be playing on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. And, in the evening, at 8:00pm, they'll be playing a free in-store at the Amoeba Records in Hollywood.

Head on over to their site for a run of February tour dates.

Back to "Phantom Limb". Check out a video segment from ABC News with Charles Gibson about the fan shot video for the single. For those not in the know, here's the skinny on what that's all about:

The only Audience Created Concert Film featuring The Shins performing “Phantom Limb” – the first single from the band’s new album. Over 200 hundred video clips from fans cell phones and digital cameras were blended together to produce Part 1 of “All Eyes On The Shins!” – The Performance Of “Phantom Limb”.

Sweeeet. You can also take a look at the commercial video for the track, now playing at music video outlets everywhere. Or if you'd rather not deal with that, you can always Hype it. In fact you can hype a whole lot more than that, but you didn't hear that from me. Seriously though folks, you're going to be one of the many who proudly own this album and then boastfully informs your friends how you were on the beat while The Shins were still indie. Of course their fans probably hope they always will be, but as The Seattle Weekly points out, that can be difficult when prepping for possibly the biggest independent record release of all time. The article is a fine read for exploring that age-old conflict about independent vs. mainstream (a topic that has also been explored on AtD).

In a last droplet of Shins news, Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats is the newest member of the band. And word from The Shins camp is that he is "Great."

What indie bands are you listening to right now?

Slanted Spotlight: The Shins

This section of Above The Din (pending Coz’s approval, of course) will be devoted to getting the word out about musical acts I (or we) feel are underrepresented in the current music scene. It’s about sharing what we love about bands or artists whose main catalogue falls under the radar, as they are known only by a few songs or not very well-known at all. Personal preferences can come into play here (hence the “Slanted”), and it’s more a space for recommendation than anything else. You might find the artists discussed here amazing, mediocre, or stuck outside the main spotlight for a reason. Either way, it’s good to bring them to light and open your horizons a bit.

The Shins are primarily known for their appearance on Zach Braff’s soundtrack to the movie Garden State. The excellent compilation (one of those movie soundtracks bought on its own merit) contains “Caring is Creepy” and “New Slang” from 2001's "Oh Inverted World".

These selections embody the safe middle ground between the wildly experimental tracks that dominate 2003's "Chutes Too Narrow," and softer, more soldidly composed songs such as “Pink Bullets” from "Chutes Too Narrow" and “The Past and Pending” off "Oh Inverted World". Interestingly, the Shins' second album is the site of more "weird," risky songs than their first major release.

Quirkiness is the band's strongest and weakest point, and is prevalent on both albums. Gems like "unknown quotients, you must be using potions / how else could you tie my head to the sky" from 2001's "Girl Inform Me" are endearing, while lines such as "You may notice certain things before you die. / Mail them to me should they cause / Your algebra to fail" are featured on the same album and may cause severe eye-rolling. The tendency to string together random phrases, while a smashing success on "New Slang," can seem pretentious and inscrutable elsewhere, making them somewhat a "love 'em or hate 'em" act. At the same time, lyrics from the stunning "One By One All Day": "If every moment of our lives was cradled softly / In the arms of a strange and gentle child / I'd not roll my eyes so" stop me in my tracks with their beautiful acuity.

Despite their hyper-originality in phrasing, songs like already-discussed "The Past And Pending" and "Pink Bullets," and "Those To Come" as well, are more like ballads with interesting word choice, and create an ambient, surreal, and wistful atmosphere.

If you like unorthodox phrasing, modern poetry, and/or are a sucker for softer songs (I happen to fall into all these categories), you should give The Shins a try. It’s become a bit of a joke that I often push their music on people I know, but I feel there is excellent material here, that the band is in danger of being associated with Garden State and only that for all eternity if something is not done. Now that this vital step has been taken, I can rest easy for a while.