Five years since their last release, Wincing the Night Away, The Shins released their new album Ports of Morrow last week. James Mercer is back with a whole new gang including Joe Plummer from Modest Mouse and Yuuki Matthews from Crystal Skulls, among others. Mercer later was quoted as saying that the theme of the album is "the struggle between good and bad". And struggle seems to be the best word to describe the album as a whole. As if Mercer's mind is split down the middle, Ports of Morrow seems to be a struggle between the desire to adventure into a new sound, and the comfort of simply creating another good Shins album. The album opens with "The Rifle's Spiral", which, despite Mercer's unmistakable voice, sounds like a whole new band (not entirely surprising considering it is). For one, the band seems to experiment more with electronic music, most likely influenced from James' recent project with Dangermouse, Broken Bells. And although this seems to work for them in tracks such as "Simple Song", "Rifle's Spiral", and "Ports of Morrow", the new sound is almost too clean. This may strike one as a good attribute, but these tracks seem almost fit for an arena, nothing like the untrimmed indie songs found on albums like Oh, Inverted World. So this album could either be considered the best or the worst album for the band, depending on what it is you love about them. For those who grew up with The Shins being a sort of underground anthem band, the idea that they would even strive for a perfect sound is somewhat insulting.
But regardless, Mercer still manages to put out some phenomenal songs, just further establishing himself as a great songwriter. "Simple Song", already a large success, seems to put itself in the category with other classics such as "Caring is Creepy" and "Saint Simon". The song is a head bopping tune, that will drop your stomach at it's vocal-bruising chorus. And to give credit to the new band members, the piano and precise bass by Matthews adds a whole new dimension to the song.
Unfortunately, some of the new songs seem to be a bit of a bore. "Its only life" is one of these songs; with a Bryan Adams chord progression and lyrics such as "I call you on the telephone, wont you pick up the receiver", and "I've been down the very road you're on, it doesn't have to be so dark and lonesome", the song sounds like it was written for an emotional 7th grader. These trite lyrics and predictable verses leave one to wonder if their old stuff was profound or if I was just young.
After a few listens, the album does grow on you. There are definitely tracks that mantain the band's good name, and although I can criticize other songs, it doesn't stop me from blasting them in my car.
