The Shins
Port Of Morrow

It's been 5 years since "Wincing The Night Away" took Sub Pop records to its highest chart achievement ever (No. 2 on the Billboard 200 Chart in the US), and a lot has changed in The Shins' world.

First of all, the lineup: considering we're fundamentally talking about a project revolving around one of the best indie songwriters of his generation, namely James Mercer, an almost complete change has led to the departure of keyboardist Marty Crandall and drummer Jesse Sandoval in favor of the entry of Ron Lewis (Grand Archives), Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats) on bass, and Joe Plummer from Modest Mouse on drums. Then the record contract: ending the relationship with Sub Pop Records, Mercer chose to release the new work through his own label Aural Apothecary, while still relying on the major Columbia (which, as usual, made some people frown).

As for the new album, baptized "Port Of Morrow," those who expected even a partial "sellout" of The Shins' project due to the involvement of a major will be disappointed: the rifles can be lowered. The band's fourth studio work is a solid, fresh album, arranged and produced divinely. And most importantly, it has many strong points. Starting with the unrestrained opener "The Rifle's Spiral," a sparkling, rhythmic, and incisive indie pop track that stands among Mercer's best works. Overcoming the first single "Simple Song," filled with soaring vocal flights and high-quality melodic glimpses, the album proceeds with pleasantly delicate ballads and stellar melodic exploration (listen to the already programmed second single "It's Only Life," but also "September," "For A Fool," or "40 Mark Strasse") and pieces of pop craftsmanship imbued with vitality and joyful melodic attitude, sometimes perfectly on point, like the excellent "Bait And Switch," other times slightly over the top (see "No Way Down," where perhaps pop-centric producer Greg Kurstin—Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Foster The People, and the upcoming new work by Dido in his curriculum—makes the track dangerously close to the most garish things of The Killers' "Day & Age" era).

In other moments, a touch of brass used at the right time, as in the delightful "Fall Of ‘82," or a wonderful layer of psychedelia as in the masterful closing title track, gives the album a pleasantly rich aroma, avoiding yet another indie pop work rich in frills but ultimately lacking substance.

Here, instead, substance and class abound. A good restart for The Shins, hoping it won't take another 5 years for the next gem.

Key tracks: "The Rifle's Spiral," "It's Only Life," "Port Of Morrow"