Wincing The Night Away

02/08/2007 9:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Wincing The Night Away, the Shins’ third album, is what it represents to the ailing record industry. At a time when major labels are folding like deck chairs on the Titanic, Wincing has the once-mighty indie Sub Pop rising from the ashes and competing with the big boys on the sales chart, right up there with Pretty Ricky and American Idol's Daughtry. While it's unlikely that Wincing will start a revolution of fey, Brit-like pop, like Nirvana did for grunge back when they recorded for Sub Pop in the late ‘80s, it's a swell and tasteful recording that finds the foursome mining Beatlesque pop with some dark and slightly modern twists. The lead single, "Phantom Limb," is a gorgeous slice of pop, with shimmering guitars and sea shanty-like backing vocals. Other highlights include the jaunty "Australia," complete with banjo and a killer guitar break. Much has been made of Natalie Portman's Shins namedrop in Garden State, in which her character claimed the band would "change your life." While the Shins’ latest isn't life-changing, it’s certainly nothing to wince at.