The Shins and Radiohead

A week ago I bought The Shins recent release Wincing The Night Away (2007), the long awaited follow up to Chutes Too Narrow (2003). Chutes won me over with its lo-fi indie approach, pursuasive melodies and bouyant rhythms. At times a grab bag of styles, The Shins have an infectous sense of adventure in their recordings. After the success of Chutes and a big boost from the Garden State soundtrack (2004) there was a sense of anticipation for their next album.

After hearing the new disc, my first reaction to the CD was...it's The Shins in 3D! Fuller, brighter production adds to the feeling of professionalism on Wincing but does reduce some of their initial indie charm. The songwriting is still effective but not quite as memorable as past tunes, though to be fair it took a month for Chutes Too Narrow to really sink in for me. The single "Phantom Limb" is the song that stands out the most for me, a midtempo pop number with shimmering guitars and rumbling drums. There is a slight feeling of self consciousness to the album, as if it is trying a little to hard to sound like The Shins. This is probably due to the amount of hype preceding it, as the recording process was closely tracked by the media every chance it got. Overall, Wincing The Night Away isn't bad and is enjoyable to listen to but not as memorable as their past work.

An older disc that shows the heights modern rock bands can scale is Radiohead's The Bends (1995). The Bends has emotive vocals, clanging guitars and industrialized beats creating rock music that is both noisy and structured. Like most Radiohead songs, the theme seem to be alienation in the modern world whether it's dealing with "My Iron Lung" or "Fake Plastic Trees". Evocative, emotional and artistically daring, The Bends is every bit as good as their classic OK Computer (1997). A rare album that lives up to and surpasses it's hype.