The Shins - "Heartworms"

The Shins, aka James Mercer and company, since the early 2000's have been dishing out some seriously sweet indie rock/indie pop, churning out some of my favorite albums in indie while they were at it.  In 2001, The Shins released "Oh, Inverted World".  Tracks on here like "Know Your Onion!" and "New Slang" quickly became synonymous with the word "Indie".  The music of The Shine was just so sweet and likable, and as nerdy and awkward as James Mercer was you couldn't help but love him and be intrigued by his performances.  With 2003's "Chute To Narrow", The Shins went from Indie's best kept secret to mega stars.  The production on this album was loads better then their debut, the harmonies were more on point, and The Shins had a new found fire in between their more sweet pop tunes.  The Shins next album, 2007's "Wincing The Night Away" was a weird one.  This is the album that I first listened to from The Shins, mostly because of the massive success behind fantastic singles like "Phantom Limb" and "Austalia".  The rest of the album wasn't necessarily bad, but James Mercer seemed so much more lifeless and uninterested in writing Indie Pop songs, to the point where so many later tracks on their were straight up boring.  The Shins really needed to reinvent themselves after that one.  But in cases like The Shins, that usually doesn't happen, they usually stick with their usual style.  However, in 2012 The Shins DID reinvent themselves with the surprisingly VERY good "Port Of Morrow".  Here James Mercer took plenty of influence with his spacey side project Broken Bells, and gave us a more spacey oriented Shins.  There were more dance oriented songs, as well as some folky throwbacks, but it all seemed to work very well.  That was almost 5 years ago, The Shins have been VERY quiet ever since.  But here we are with a new album to dive into!  These new singles have been really hit and miss to be honest, but I'll get to those in a few.

(Stone cold classic right here)

This album starts off on an extremely positive note, with the fantastic “Name for You” single.  When I was preparing for this review and I heard this, I was really excited.  This track is just so bouncy and has such a sunny feel that I can’t help but love it.  James Mercer’s performance on this one is one of his better on here by far, and even though it’s been 5 years since we’ve heard from him last it doesn’t really sound like it from his vocals.  As far as lyrics go, this actually has quite the old school Shins feel to it, it has that kinda awkward tint to it.  Mercer pulls it off great though.  The melodies are bright, there are a few bizarre quirks that pop up here and there, and that chorus is absolutely to die for.  If The Shins want to take a step back and go for more of an old school sound, this is the way to go.  The bass groove here even gives this track a really nice snap.  Overall, “Name For You” is actually a fantastic single.  But it’s also very evident that while this has plenty of old school Shins elements, this is far from their usual stripped back sound.  No, this is a much more colorful, vast sound for The Shins.  We see much more of this on the next track, “Painting A Hole”.   The drums here certainly have some punch to them, and it overall  continues to be very colorful, even psychedelic in feel.  Even lyrically once things get going were dealing with much more “out there” imagery than we’re used to.  It’s James’s performance here that I can’t get into at all.  His vocals have always been so sweet and joyful,, but here they just come off as ridged and un-inviting.  He’s done these sort of vocal performances before too, but on “Painting A Hole” it seriously just doesn’t come off as good here.  The energy here is nice, and the fact that The Shins are once again trying something new is commendable, but I’m not into this sound one bit.  Up next is the equally as Psych-Pop feeling “Cherry Hearts”.  Hell, this feel has gotten so thick on the album that I honestly feel like I’ve accidentally put on the latest Animal Collective album.  Now, on the last Shins album James Mercer took a huge leap by incorporating a great deal of synth’s into The Shins music.  But it was just so light and airy still that it ended up meshing so well.  The synths on “Cherry Hearts” to say the least are honestly just really ugly.  Mercer’s song writing continues to be passable, but there’s still a bunch of weird references that I just can’t grasp.  The atmosphere here is just so overpowering and hard to swallow, but to be honest can we really be so shocked that The Shins went a little Psychedelic from looking at that album artwork?  “Cherry Hearts” still has it’s charming moments and has a sweet chorus and all, but most of the rest of it sounds like the audio equivalent of James Mercer throwing paint at a canvas and calling it a painting.  “Fantasy Island” at the very least sees The Shins returning to their comfort zone.  But while they certainly seem more comfortable and are back to sounding like themselves, my gosh is this track every boring.  James himself here sounds like he’s practically falling asleep.  Instantly I feel like I’m having a really bad flashback to one of the truly awful tracks from their “Wincing The Night Away” album.  I do however like the vocal harmonies on the chorus quite a bit, they’re actually some of the purest sounding on the entire album.  But then the verse pops back in and we’re right back to dealing with some of the most lifeless Shins bars ever.

Thankfully, The Shins do a pretty good job of turning this album around for a little while.  “Mildenhall” is once again The Shins going for more of the signature sound that made them famous.  The only difference is, here they nail it, and it ends up being the closest thing to that classic Shins sound.  Mercer here actually sounds like his younger self, and I love the story here that shows someone (Probably James Mercer) growing older and learning to enjoy music.  It actually comes off really sweet and one of the more lyrically interesting tracks here, all while being seriously nostalgic for people who’ve followed The Shins for as long as I have.  I mean, I honestly can’t really see James Mercer being a big Jesus & Mary Chain guy, but I’m just gonna let that go.  “Mildenhall” overall is a really solid tune, one that I wouldn’t be too surprised if it became a modern standard for The Shins.  Mercer & The Shins continue down this more nostalgic feel with “Rubber Ballz”.  The bouncy vocals that start this one off actually give me a really strong “Chutes To Narrow”.  In more ways then one I feel like Mercer’s entire performance on this track is totally reminiscent of his younger self.  I love the kind of awkward, hopeless romantic character he paints himself as.  “Rubber Ballz” as a whole has a little more of an indie pop vibe, but the band carry it well.  It’s bouncy, it’s sweet, and it has one of the most memorable choruses here.  No, it’s not absolutely flooring or outrageous, but it’s a nice track through and through.  Up next is “Half A Million”, and to be honest I wasn’t expecting to hear such an energetic performance from James anytime soon.  This track is absolutely bombastic.  It’s heavier, and a much punchier jam, with some really great lyrical moments here and there as well.  James here goes deep into talking about doing drugs, drinking, ruining friendships, things I honestly never could see him doing.  But to be honest, it really works great with the atmosphere of this track.   Just when you think The Shins are totally playing it safe, “Half A Million” pops in a slaps you right in the face.  Still, I would have to say that even the best material here doesn’t hold a candle to The Shins earlier albums.  BUT, it’s moments like this that save this album from being a complete toss-away.  Sadly, The Shins drop their momentum starting with “Dead Alive”.  Between James’s opening incoherent yell and this thick bass heavy riff, this one moments into it is ugly as anything.  This does have a little “Chutes To Narrow” vibe deep down, but this would have clearly been like, the WORST song on that album if it was written for it.  The Shins have brought us back to this heavily psychedelic atmosphere, which to be honest if they hunkered down hard enough on I think could come off rather nicely.  But it continues to be very messy and even worse forgettable.  The only really memorable element to “Dead Alive” is that chorus, which at the very least brings in some warmth.  Everything else about this track is just The Shins trying to be edgy, which so far hasn’t worked out very well for them at all.

The last few tracks here are hit and miss.  “Heartworms” goes back to The Shins really capturing their classic sound once again.  Lyrically, instrumentally, the atmosphere, it’s all there right in front of us.  It’s James Mercer’s vocals are sweet and the chorus packs quite the wallop.  I mean, I really don’t care for the visual of James Mercer getting heart worms and “feeling them wriggle inside him”, it’s disgusting, but I’ll overlook it.  “So Now What” on the other hand is exactly the sound I was praying that The Shins would completely overlook.  Like the earlier tracks here, listening to this I feel like I could fall asleep at any moment, and not in the relaxing sort of way.  No, this is just boring, and I feel really bad because 95% of the problem is all James Mercer’s performance.  Instrumentally, some of the crescendos and build up to the chorus are seriously epic.  But James’s vocals are way too breezy and so sweet that their suffocating.  Thankfully, The Shins do answer with a great finale with “The Fear”.  To put it bluntly, this track is simply stunning.  This track proves that they can still go for softer tracks and stay relevant and interesting.  Lyrically, James comes off so human and vulnerable in typical Shins fashion.  The string arrangements in the background come off beautiful.  Oddly enough, “The Fear” seriously doesn’t even feel like it belongs on this album, it sure is nice though.  

Rating: 7.0/10

Give A Listen To: “Name For You”, “Mildenhall”, “The Fear”, “Half A Million”

Overall Thoughts: I honestly expected more out of this album.  I saw the path that The Shins were going down on their last album, and I thought it was such a mature direction.  James Mercer realized that The Shins were at risk of getting stale and took them in a new direction.  On "Heartworms", James and The Shins take a big step back and try to go for a more classic sound, while mixing in a ton of elements of Psychedelic Pop.  The results are VERY varied, with sometimes The Shins coming out with some of their biggest and best singles since "Chutes Too Narrow".  The rest of the material here is often filled with bizarre tricks that just seem bloated and are more agitating than anything.