The Shins, Wincing the Night Away

Wincing the Night Away is absolutely amazing music, full of weird and strangely pleasing sounds. Mercer writes cryptic, surreal lyrics that go perfectly with his very individual voice. The Shins create moods and textures on "Wincing" which they failed to do on their previous albums. Utterly amazing.

"Wincing the Night Away" is an exceptional album, even by Shins standards. From James Mercer's cryptic, surreal lyrics to the strange (But very pleasing) instruments. For sure this album soars above "Chutes too Narrow" and "Oh Inverted World" because it creates new moods and textures rather than a consistently happy, acoustic sound. But in a way "Chutes" was a heavier album (Though it wasn't that heavy anyway) than "Wincing", but with ever-changing tempos and out-there instruments, "Wincing" is far less "standard" and far less grounded in acoustic indie pop. But don't worry. The Shins are still the optimistic Indies we knew learned to love them as. Only better.

Another fantastic album by the Shins who have yet to disappoint. The opener Sleeping Lessons which starts slowly but gathers pace indicated early on that this album that I had waited so long to come around was never going to disappoint. As with the previous effort Chutes Too Narrow you find new things to love about each song every time you listen to it. When listening to other albums I generally get bored after a month or so and put them away for a while. With the Shins they just get better and better and better with every listen. Neither Chutes Too or Oh, Inverted World have ever been to far away from my CD player and don't think they ever will. I can safely say the same will be true about Wincing The Night Away.

If you're still around Mindy, thanks for the Shins!!!!