Something that both I and James Mercer suffer from is an addiction to the three-chord pop wonder. Me, because they're easy to play on the guitar and him because he's so prodigious at creating them. Dylan, Young and lots more folk artists have perfected this in the past.

Unfortunately however, TV shows and bland movie directors like Zach Braff have been queueing up to get the chance to soundtrack a song from the critically acclaimed Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow. One of the side-effects of this popularity has been the onset of insomnia, so bluntly portrayed by The Shin's third album, Wincing the Night Away.

And no better album indeed to start a new day and end a good night. You'll go to bed thinking happy, positive thoughts. The ceiling may spin but only as a result of the kaleidoscopic intensity of the incredibly produced vocals and hooks that come from instant classics such as Australia and Phantom Limb. Listen to it on the way to work and I dare you not to tap something, be it your foot or your co-passenger's shoulder to tell them how good it is.

Part of this reviewer hankers for the stripped down, bleak and bare past efforts such as New Slang or The Past and Pending but this generally upbeat poptastic album should be embraced. The opening song Sleeping Lessons' primary goal is to do just that, hook you. You could even venture to say that it breaks into something like pop-shoegaze. At the other end, they wind down in typical fashion with a lo-fi track called A Comet Appears.

Overcoming the immortal Popularity versus Critical Acclaim battle is probably their greatest hurdle. Now there's an enviable position to be in.

Wincing the Night Away will be released on January 29, 2007.



tags:shins, james mercer, wincing the night away

Published by Colm.