listening to the shins

I was first introduced to The Shins 5+ years ago. That's a good way to say that. The first album I heard by them was "Chutes Too Narrow," their second album. This defined for me what they were "supposed" to sound like. My friend who introduced me to them knew them from their first album, which he claimed to love. The differences between the two albums weren't enough for him to be put off by their new sound, but to me this was their only sound. I didn't hear their first album for a year or two after my first introduction to them.

When I finally did buy "Oh, Inverted World" I was not very impressed. I loved The Shins because they were crazy and fun, and their first album just wasn't. Well, it wasn't AS crazy and fun. So I stuck with "Chutes Too Narrow" as my go-to Shins listening experience. This didn't change until the release of their third album, "Wincing the Night Away." The radio push had prepared me to buy the new album as soon as I could after its release, and that has since been the most-listened-to album in my iTunes.

I've always appreciated The Shins for their wackiness, their upbeat tempo (when that applies), and their absurd lyrics, but one important element that I probably didn't appreciate as much years ago and that's growing on me now is how subtle and insightful some of their songs are. I don't feel like giving any examples right now (just go listen to their music and I'm sure something will pop out to you), but sometimes their lyrics make me stop and think about what circumstances could have prompted the writing of such an odd line, and it gets me thinking.

I think this change in sensibilities on my part is what has led me to kind of rediscover "Oh, Inverted World" lately. What drove me away from it in the first place was the down-tempo songs, like "Caring is Creepy," "Weird Divide" and "Your Algebra." I still don't really dig those slow songs, but some tracks on their album are sticking with me lately, like "One By One All Day" and "Girl on the Wing."

It's not reasonable to expect that every song on every album will be a home run. My sister and I were talking about this recently and concluded that if 40% of the songs are great on an album, then that is one amazing album. Even the greatest artists and bands don't reach this level very often. Most good albums have 1-2 great songs, 2-3 good songs, and the rest blah. I guess that's fine. I don't need to love 100% of their tracks for The Shins to perennially be one of my favorite bands.