Album Review: The Shins ‘Port of Morrow’

The Shins were never really the most interesting indie band, but they’ve always been a very good one. Their indie cred lies somewhere between Modest Mouse and Maroon 5, while frontman James Mercer is often regarded as a musical genius. Their existence in a space somewhere on the periphery of the mainstream has seen them do fairly well over the years.

But this is not the same band that recorded Wincing the Night Away in 2007. The Shins didn’t break up; James Mercer simply fired them, and he’s decided to work with new people this time around. It doesn’t seem to matter, because James has always been the creative force in the band, and fully in charge. The only real difference it makes is that I now feel a little strange referring to the band in plural forms.

There are many collaborators on this album, to help ease my awkwardness, and they lend a great deal to the recording. The new Shins are basically a band of featured players backing Mercer, and this is pretty much a solo album, but when was that ever not the case?

Production is much tighter here than on previous Shins recordings. The 60s aesthetic stays with them, but higher production values might actually take away some of the indie charm of their sound. These songs are a little more burnished and glossy than they probably have to be, which has the potential to tip the delicate balance of the pop-vs-indie scale.

Between the last Shins album and this one, Mercer formed another band with Danger Mouse called Broken Bells, which was a near perfect blending of the two artists’ musical styles. You can hear a bit of the impact of that experience on Port of Morrow, but Mercer seems to shy away from being experimental here, whether intentional or not, and perhaps has made a conscious effort to make this album sound more like he did five years ago.

Lyrically, too, this is a bit of a step towards normalcy. This album is not nearly as abstract or cerebral as his work has been in the past, but that may not be such a bad thing. After all, once you get a few albums into a career and have a little success, you are going to lose the air of being an indie darling whether you like it or not. If ever there was a feeling that James Mercer or The Shins had something to prove, being rid of that can only be freeing, and there is something to be said for the power of direct, easily relatable lyrics.

One might wonder why Mercer decided to make another record under the name The Shins at all, if not only for the branding, though that might be a little cynical.

Let me stress that there is still a lot to this album. It isn’t overly simplified, it’s just simplified, and that isn’t the direction James Mercer appeared to be heading in with his music. There is plenty of ambience here, and there are great soundscapes not common in pop music. That 60s vibe so often associated with The Shins brings a dreamlike quality to the music, and in its richest and most intriguing moments it’s a kind of surfer noir.

Port of Morrow is actually surprisingly upbeat, and one possible explanation for its directness is that Mercer is just in a good mood. It’s hard to be pretentious–even the good kind of pretentious–when you’re a happy father of two.

This is a really strong album, and one that should come highly recommended. Mercer has put himself in the admirable position of having two bands operating simultaneously, and while Broken Bells may tend more towards the heavy stuff, The Shins have perhaps found a new, feel-good role, even more in line with the sounds and the era that inspired them to begin with.