After the success of their 2004 sophomore release 'Chutes Too Narrow' - thanks in part to Zach Braff's cult movie Garden State - The Shins return with their third offering 'Wincing The Night Away'. Produced by Joe Chiccarelli (Beck, U2) the album sees James Mercer and Co. continue with the blissful indie pop of their previous releases while padding out their sound with keyboards, sampled beats and strings. The lead single 'Phantom Limb' is also included.

Jan 2007

Just when you thought the bounds had been set… The Shins go and reinvent it all again; enter 'Wincing The Night Away', The Shins' third and best album to date.

Recorded over time with veteran engineer Joe Chiccarelli (Beck, U2) – 'Wincing The Night Away' is a whole new animal. It is the sound of a band growing up and out. Singer/guitarist James Mercer's infectious, indelible melodic style is still at the core, and unfaltering. But anything can happen around it – and in this case, it does. 'Sea Legs' pairs a hip-hop (yes, hip-hop) beat with lush melodic lines and searing guitars.

Elsewhere, the band toys with tweaked-out piano steeped in psychedelic strings ('Red Rabbit'); fractured synth samples ('Spilt Needles'); gauzy, arpeggiated keyboards cloaking thunderous anthems ('Sleeping Lessons'); and, taking cues from early Jesus and Mary Chain albums – sweeping, fuzz-toned epics (first single from the release, 'Phantom Limb').

Finally, 'Turn on Me', 'Girl Sailor' and 'Australia' are the lilting, exhilarating, rollicking, rock-solid pop songs we’ve all come to covet from The Shins.

In the late 1990s, the Albuquerque indie-rock band Flake Music morphed into the Shins, led by vocalist-guitarist James Mercer. Upon the release of 2001's OH, INVERTED WORLD, the Shins garnered a landslide of critical acclaim with their amiable, 1960s-influenced power-pop. Subsequent touring further raised the group's profile, and their eagerly awaited sophomore album, CHUTES TOO NARROW, revealed another set of clever and quirky pop-rock ditties. A prominent spot in Zach Braff's 2004 indie film sensation GARDEN STATE exploded the band's fanbase and third record debuted in the top ten without sacrificing critical raves. The Shins even scored an unlikely chart hit in 2007's "Phantom Limb."