The Shins

The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow (20th Anniversary Remaster) (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · November 20, 2023 · Comments off

Truly accidental hits must be the hardest kinds of records to follow up. This is where many artists, great and not so great, have choked. For all their ubiquity in the early 2000s, the Shins really did make marvelous, smart pop music, but for Chutes Too Narrow, the follow-up to the Shins’ Oh, Inverted World, the band chose to simplify things, and to take their time in recording.

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The Shins – The Worms Heart (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · November 11, 2023 · Comments off

The Worm’s Heart is a complete re-work of The Shins’ critically acclaimed album Heartworms. The album offers new, reworked versions of the original album tracks with the sequence flipped. The fifth studio album from the awesome American indie-band The Shins gets a ‘flipped’ release, the songs have been re-worked and re-created to make the slower, mellow ones punchy and rocky, and the faster ones slowed down and intimate, demonstrating the band’s songwriting ability.

What began as an exercise in songwriting transformed into a commentary on what it means to be a songwriter. After writing the first track for Heartworms (released 10 March 2017), James Mercer decided to recreate each song from scratch. Driven by its malleability, its ability to be foundationally identical, yet aesthetically and sonically utterly new, Mercer continued experimenting until he had two complete albums: one original and one “flipped”.

Mercer’s ability to create two totally divergent albums from the same underlying compositions not only highlights his immense capability as a songwriter, but also functions as a reminder of what it means to be an artist, how an artist acts as both the master and facilitator of his artistic product.

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The Shins – Oh, Inverted World (20th Anniversary Remaster) (2001/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · November 11, 2023 · Comments off

Oh, Inverted World, the earth-shattering, indie-rock-redefining 2001 debut album by The Shins, is presented here in its finest form, dressed up all nice for its 20th birthday. The classic tunes get new life by way of a full remastering job under band leader James Mercer’s watchful eye, the art is given a little extra zest via a die-cut jacket and a classy inner sleeve, and the package is rounded off with a big ol’ booklet with vintage photos, handwritten lyrics, and more.

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The Shins – Heartworms (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · November 11, 2023 · Comments off

The Shins are pleased to announce the release of their fifth studio album, Heartworms. In contrast to 2012’s Port of Morrow, which debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 and was nominated for a Best Alternative Album GRAMMY, Heartworms ushers in a return to the handmade. Heartworms is, as always, entirely written by James Mercer, with exception of “So Now What” (produced by band member Richard Swift). Heartworms is the first Shins album to be self-produced by Mercer since Oh, Inverted World in 2001.

Heartworms features Mercer’s most diverse lyrical palette to date. The result is a cohesive, yet genre defying album marked by Mercer’s distinct voice and melodic composition. Unified by his singular vision, Mercer creates a sound that is both familiar a nostalgic nod to the album’s predecessors – and distinctly new. The album’s first single, “Name For You,” is a resounding call for female empowerment inspired by Mercer’s three daughters.

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