The Shins
Oh Inverted World

When I think of the term "psychedelia" there are three names that immediately come to mind: Syd Barrett, Jerry Garcia, and Jorma Kaukonen. Perhaps no one else has been able to recreate the atmospheres of albums like "Aoxomoxoa" or "Crown of Creation," irreplaceable masterpieces that marked an era and "legitimized" acid rock.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, time may have stopped, ensnared by the dust and desert, and the echoes of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Quicksilver Messenger Service are still in the air, floating like a distant mirage. And those echoes James Mercer listened to very carefully, without forgetting what the '90s offered his eager ear… Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Pavement, Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, the heralds of that indie rock that for years has provided sustenance and inspiration to the American alternative scene, far from the trumpeted and often overrated names that filled the Lollapalooza lineup.

In 2001, good James, after the previous experience with Flake (later Flake Music), debuted with the Shins, releasing this full-length for the legendary Sub Pop. A liquid, suspended sound, certainly less "lysergic" compared to the sacred monsters mentioned above, at times sing-songy and hypnotic but with a more pronounced country-folk component compared to the subsequent productions "'Chutes Too Narrow" and "Wincing the Night Away," dated 2003 and 2007, respectively.

"Caring is Creepy" and "Know Your Onion" are two not-so-veiled tributes to Jay Mascis and Lou Barlow, with those obsessive choruses that strike in all their joyful playfulness. References to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper and the evergreen Beach Boys are omnipresent on the record, if not obvious as in "Girl Inform Me" and "The Celibate Life", and a sprinkle of Doors here and there cannot be denied. Occasionally, some electro-pop inserts pop up ("Weird Divide", "Girl on the Wing", "Your Algebra") but without clashing with the so cunningly low-fi atmosphere that permeates the album.

At times, but it is certainly not a defect in my humble opinion, they bring to mind the Mercury Rev of "Deserter's Songs" in a less cerebral version. In some ways, "Oh, Inverted World" is less mature compared to the more recent works of the band, which, if I may say, are much more "savvy" and commercial (not in a negative sense), at times decidedly intimate. But even trying hard, I cannot consider it a step below its successors.

It must be that atmosphere so "sixties-oriented", those joyful choruses, that plucking that smacks of bittersweet and brings to mind the colors and sounds of an era that will not return… yes, it must be this very thing that prevents me from taking the CD off the player.

A record to be listened to strictly with eyes closed.