The Shins
Chutes Too Narrow

THE REVIEW

The review for this album is already there, but as a good Samaritan, I heed the "prayer" of the original author and do it again: it doesn’t mean mine will be better, on the contrary! To tell the truth, the review fulfilled - to the credit of its author - the task of guiding unsuspecting souls, not to the afterlife but more simply towards the purest pop delight.

This is an album that tricks you: you listen to it the first time and it’s like fresh water, then you can’t do without it anymore. The Shins possess the rare gift of being able to construct melodies - both instrumental and vocal - that are complicated and intricate, yet when listened to, reveal a disarming simplicity and infinite pleasantness. The names that come to mind are the usual ones mentioned in these cases: Beatles, Beach Boys, but also Byrds and, to stay current, New Pornographers, La's, and Pinback, all people who invented pop.

I have deliberately left out the group that I believe can mainly be compared to the Shins because it deserves a broader discussion. XTC of "Skylarking" (their eighth album from 1986 produced by pop guru Todd Rundgren) softened their baroque and pre-psychedelic grandeur to offer a more naked and simple work, an "American" sound that indeed had great success on college radios and is absolutely one of the band's best-selling albums. Americans appreciate well-constructed melodies; it’s no coincidence that the three B's (Beatles-Beach Boys-Bee Gees) are sanctified icons of pop-rock even now. Therefore, I like to think that the Shins have taken massive doses of "Skylarking" to then produce "Oh Inverted World," their first album which indeed presents more than one analogy with the three from Swindon: an undeniable talent, not fully expressed, for constructing compelling harmonies and perfect songs (the legendary and famous "New Slang," the Byrds-oriented "One By One All Day," the subdued and beautiful "The Past And Pending").

The turning point comes, however, with "Chutes Too Narrow," more immediate and more powerful than the previous one, which takes their manifest genius for songwriting to a higher level, without distorting their essence as indie-heart poppers. It’s striking how easily they string together chilling melodies, complicated yet simple, that radiate optimism and force you to put the album back in the player. In hindsight—that is, after listening to the third "Wincing The Night Away" where something gets stuck, retracing their steps offering only a couple of songs worth: the Smiths-like "Phantom Limb" and the darker but damn intriguing "Sealegs," with an incredible ascending scale—we can say that this album is, for now, the pinnacle for them. The unusual acoustic arpeggio of "Young Pilgrims," the superb "Saint Simon" - here too with vocal crescendos for the anthology - the contagious "Kissing The Lipless" never cease to be listened to. They are Americans and it shows: "Mine’s Not A High Horse" can’t help but bring to mind the Byrds of "Turn Turn Turn", while with "Pink Bullets" we’re more in Rolling Stones territory of "Aftermath". The Shins quote, constantly reference the masters but do so openly, drawing from their own pure sonic sources.

If I could criticize this group, it would be that they are still mainly a college radio band, they haven’t yet fully expressed their potential: if they manage to do so, I foresee a bright future for them.