Marty music electric guitar11/21/2023 ![]() “Fighting in a Sack” is so quick that Mercer’s vocals feel like he’s about to stumble over his lyrics. The record includes two other big rockers. Released as the first single a month before the LP dropped, it announced a different energy level for the Shins. “So Says I”, in contrast, finds Mercer using a falsetto yelp over jagged electric guitars. Mercer mostly keeps his vocals in a lower register, letting Marty Crandall’s synths and quiet vocal harmonies handle the high end. ![]() “Mine’s Not a High Horse” rolls along on quickly strummed acoustic guitar and energetic yet lightly played drums from Jesse Sandoval. This art promises a bit more whimsy than the music delivers but remains a striking package.įollowing “Kissing the Lipless”, Chutes Too Narrow keeps the energy level high. This effort paid off, as artist and designer Jesse LeDoux was nominated for a Grammy for Best Art Direction for the project. The Shins’ label Sub Pop went the extra mile, making the CD booklet die-cut so that it unfolds into different layers in an almost pop-up book fashion. The album cover features a whimsical piece of pastel storybook-style artwork with hills, ponds, and weird creatures. “Kissing the Lipless” isn’t the only first impression Chutes Too Narrow makes. “Kissing the Lipless” is an excellent quiet-loud-quiet rock track, and Ek ensures the listeners get the full impact of those dynamic changes. Mercer begins the second verse by bursting into a massive falsetto, with the Shins joining him at full volume. Dave Hernandez’ electric guitar and Jesse Sandoval’s drums pop in for quick bursts after the first verse. When he starts to sing, also relatively restrained the vocals are clear and loud. Mercer isn’t strumming particularly intensely, but that sound is right up front in the mix. “Kissing the Lipless” begins with a quick handclap rhythm, a loud “Woo!”, and Mercer’s acoustic guitar. The opening seconds of Chutes make it immediately clear that Ek is going in a different direction. Oh, Inverted World was occasionally championed as a tremendous lo-fi record, and its production feels a bit quiet and distant. On hand to produce Chutes Too Narrow was Phil Ek, who had worked with other indie acts like Built to Spill and Modest Mouse. Commercials turned out to be a solid way for artists in the 2000s to get exposure for their music. No dedicated commercial radio format played indie rock, and MTV was shoving most of its music video programming onto the little-seen M2 channel. It turned out that they were just ahead of the curve. The Shins took some heat for it, as lingering, 1990s-style cries of “sellout” followed them around for a bit. The band recorded their new album, Chutes Too Narrow, in the basement of Mercer’s Portland home.Īt the time, the idea of a group putting their music on an ad for a product was mildly controversial. ![]() They licensed the earlier single, “New Slang”, to McDonald’s for a commercial and used the proceeds to move to Portland, Oregon. ![]() Singer-guitarist-songwriter James Mercer was ready with a new batch of songs that covered a wide range of moods and intensity levels. The Shins were more than up for the challenge. Oh, Inverted World felt vulnerable yet catchy, and the new record had a tall task to equal that success. They had plenty of hooks and were willing to put down the drums and guitars and play those hooks on vibraphones and harmonicas instead. The quartet from Albuquerque had the delicate sensibilities of a folk act but weren’t afraid to turn up the guitars every now and then. In its place, a new term, indie rock, sprung up, and the Shins were an early, shining example of the sound. Nickelback, Hoobastank, and their ilk peddled third-rate versions of grunge, nü metal had briefly dominated the charts but was on the way down, and the fresh, unique bands of the mid-1990s had turned, definitively, into one-hit wonders. Oh, Inverted World was a critical darling, lauded in the music press as well as the burgeoning online blog space.īy this point in the rock landscape, the 1990s alternative rock boom had sputtered out. They were about to release their second album, the follow-up to an acclaimed debut. In the fall of 2003, the Shins found themselves in a position many promising young bands know well.
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