1 Sleeping Lessons
2 Australia
3 Pam Berry
4 Phantom Limb
5 Sea Legs
6 Red Rabbits
7 Turn On Me
8 Black Wave
9 Split Needles
10 Girl Sailor
11 A Comet Appears
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The Shins are an indie pop group consisting of singer and guitarist James Russell Mercer, keyboardist/guitarist Martin Crandall, bassist Dave Hernandez, and drummer Jesse Sandoval. They formed in 1997, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a side project of Mercer (previously of Blue Roof Dinner) and Sandoval, who were both members of the lo-fi musical group Flake Music (formed in 1992). The band was signed to Sub Pop following a successful tour in 2000 with fellow college-rockers Modest Mouse.
Their 2001 debut album, The Shins - Oh, Inverted World received near-unilateral critical acclaim, causing many critics to predict a mass wave of The Beach Boys-inspired bands. That wave never truly came, but the Shins enjoyed a rapidly expanding fanbase, and even saw their music featured on a McDonalds advertisement. That may have been artistic suicide for them, had it not been that the song featured (" The Shins – New Slang"), included the lines "New slang/when you notice the stripes/the dirt in your fries."
The Shins fanbase increased massively after two tracks from the debut record, " The Shins – Caring Is Creepy" and " The Shins – New Slang" were featured in the soundtrack to the successful film Garden State. Consequently, there was a huge degree of expectation surrounding their second album, The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow. Released in 2003 in the USA (2004 everywhere else), it received similar levels of critical acclaim, and sold substantially around the world.
Slated for release in early January 2007, their third album entitled The Shins - Wincing The Night Away was produced by Phil Ek in Seattle. This album has recently been leaked.
The Shins are currently based in Portland, Oregon.