Main Features | |
Genre | General Indie |
Country of Origin | U.S. |
1. Kissing the Lipless 2. Mine's Not A High Horse 3. So Says I 4. Young Pilgrims 5. Saint Simon | 6. Fighting In a Sack 7. Pink Bullets 8. Turn a Square 9. Gone For Good 10. Those to Come |
written by LordBrambleberry on 03/01/2008
What a delight it is to know that there is a band that is truly wonderful. In this world of Avril Lavine and Justin Timberlake it can become hard to find a band with a truly unique style of music. The Shins to the rescue!
On Chutes too Narrow the band finds itself in a very folky mood, and really express it on several tracks (Young Pilgrims, Pink Bullets, Those to Come). Occasionally they sound a bit like the Beatles (Pink Bullets, Kissing the Lipless). And, they even do an alternative-country song (Gone for Good)! James Mercer often finds himself in a depressed mood (Young Pilgrims, Pink Bullets) or a sort of angry fist-pumping rock mood (So Says I, Fighting in a Sack). It's really hard to find this many great songs on a 10-track album. Even harder is to find any flaws, even if Saint Simon is sort of annoying and Fighting in a Sack is a bit too simple. The hardest is to choose a best track, but I would choose the excellent Pink Bullets with it's lightly-strummed folk-tinged guitar line and surreality beautiful lyrics that fit perfectly. Kissing the Lipless comes in a close second, utilized perfectly as an opener. Kissing the Lipless also sounds a lot more like the Shins next album, Wincing the Night Away, than any other song on Chutes too Narrow, specifically sounding like the opener Sleeping Lessons. At the end, Mercer "flies the whole mess into the sea" with the magnificent folky closer Those to Come.
Though they are compared to Death cab for Cutie and Modest Mouse, the Shins have such an individual sound on Chutes too Narrow that they are impossible to label or compare. Amazing.
written by PixieOfDoom on 11/04/2006
Chutes Too Narrow by the Shins is a work of lovely fuzzy folky twanginess whose musical lightness belies the introspective and often depressing nature of the lyrics. The first thing you notice about this masterpiece is the catchy melodies, all lightweight guitar parts and pretty keyboards. Then you notice the captivating vocal harmonies. And then you pick up the real vivid quirkiness of songwriter James Mercer's enigmatic lyrics. Who else but the Shins could make you tap your feet in joy to the line "I learned fast how to keep my head up/cause I know I got this side of me/that wants to grab the yoke from the pilot/and just fly the whole mess into the sea"?
The Shins represent the very best of the current American indie scene, plowing their way into the hearts of listeners with sincerity rather than style. Although they've been mentioned alongside Death Cab for Cutie on style-making teen show The O.C., this fact should not put you off because they are one of the most unusual and catchy bands around. Compared in sound to the Beach Boys, they certainly have a similar lightweight poppy sound and they are the perfect soundtrack to a summer afternoon.
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