This next review has disrupted the
naturally random order of things as a “NEW” album, as per rule #5 (see
sidebar). I don’t usually invoke rule #5
these days unless I’ve just seen the tour associated with the album. That’s what’s happened here, so like with my
recent reviews of Lyle Lovett and Janelle Monae, I’ll also review the
concert.
Disc 442 is… Port of Morrow
Year of Release: 2012
What’s up with the Cover? I’m not entirely sure, although it’s decidedly creepy. Some kind of alien rabbit, or maybe a Kachina
doll seems to be emerging from a mystical portal. I wonder if considering the album title, the
cover is a veiled reference to Donnie Darko, which featured a rabbit (of sorts)
from the future.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila and I were already established Shins fans
when this album came out, so this was just us drilling through the collection.
How It Stacks Up: We have four Shins albums, which I think is all of
them, not counting James Mercer’s other projects. Of the four, “Port of Morrow” holds up
nicely, and I think it is second or third best, depending on my mood.
Rating: 4 stars
When “Port
of Morrow” was released it had been five years since the last Shins album (the
five star masterpiece “Wincing the Night Away”). In between, James Mercer had teamed up with Danger
Mouse to make an album under the name “Broken Bells” which was also pretty
awesome, so the expectation levels were kind of high for “Port of Morrow.”
Of
course, with the exception of singer and creative force James Mercer, the band
had been pretty much completely replaced since 2007, so for me that expectation
was muted. A great band is a bit of
alchemy, and you mess with the formula at your peril. In the case of the Shins, it seems to have
worked out, which is a significant testament to Mercer’s amazing talent.
The
songwriting is still there, exceptional melodies that are like ghosts in the
ears; hauntingly present when you’re listening, but ephemeral and hard to hang
on to as soon as they stop. It’s hard
to explain, but it is a quality I feel in every Shins album; like Mercer is a
preacher on the shores of the River Styx, full of an eerie compulsion that is
then forgotten in the very act of drinking them in. At least that’s how they are to me, maybe I
just need to listen to them more and they’ll stick.
Lyrically,
I’ve complained about early Shins albums being deliberately obtuse, but on this
record and “Wincing the Night Away” Mercer seems to have corrected this
affectation, and is now content to sing full thoughts.
A lot of
those thoughts are sad and troubled, and I think “Port of Morrow” is at its
best when covering troubling topics. “No Way Down” is a song about the gap
between the haves and the have nots. My
favourite line is:
“Out beyond the western squalls
In an Indian land
They work for nothing at all
They don't know the mall or the
layaway plan.”
The tune
is fast and fun, the perfect juxtaposition to the topic. If you aren’t careful you’ll find yourself
dancing along mindlessly to the catchy tune, and not pay attention to the
deeper message. I think Mercer wants
some people to do this, just to prove his point.
In
addition to the songwriting, Mercer’s voice still amazes me. He hits high notes no man has any right being
able to hit, and still has enough power in the high register to fill them with
deeper import, with plenty left over.
“Port of
Morrow” doesn’t have the same depth as “Wincing the Night Away” lyrically, and
it doesn’t haunt me the same way when the last song ends, but it adds a nice
element of pop/disco jump that I can only assume Mercer learned from his time
in “Broken Bells.” I like this new flavor,
which shows that great bands are only great when they’re willing to always add
something new to their sound.
The Concert, September 24,
2012 – The Royal Theatre
Sheila
and I took in the Shins concert at the Royal Theatre on Sunday night and it was
a mixed bag, but most of the problems had nothing to do with the Shins.
Firstly,
the opening act, “Washed Out” was not up to the task. Admittedly it is hard to be the opening act,
with the sound all set up for the guys who come on after you, it can sound
pretty muddy up there.
That
said, the words of every song were unintelligible, and without them it was even
more painfully evident that every song essentially sounded the same. That sameness took the form of heavily
derivative eighties beats, which Sheila correctly pointed out sounded like a
re-imagined “Simple Minds.”
On top
of this, the light show regularly shone floods into the audience directly into
my eyes. There were five lights, and by
the end of it I felt like Jean-Luc Picard being interrogated by the Cardassians
(although in my case, there actually were five lights).
Anyway,
I’d have preferred the road that brought the band to town to have been washed
out.
Once the
Shins started playing, things improved dramatically. These guys are very tight live, and the songs
sounded as good as the studio recordings.
They didn’t do a lot of innovative stuff with what they played, apart
from minor phrasing decisions on the vocals of a couple of the older songs, but
I think it is a positive when the band that can sound as good live as on the
recording.
The set
list was a good mix. It was a healthy
dose of the new album, with the favourites from previous records sprinkled
in. Both Sheila and I were disappointed
that some of our more obscure favourites (such as “A Comet Appears”) didn’t make it into the show, but that’s always a
hazard of liking an obscure track.
Their
encore was not as well selected, featuring one recognizable song followed by
about ten minutes of atmospheric noodling.
I like atmospheric noodling as much as the next guy (OK not quite as
much, but I’m tolerant of it). However,
timing for this stuff is important in a live show. Any artsy stuff should come about three
quarters of the way through the show, after the audience is good and warmed up,
but leaving room at the end to go out on a high with some crowd faves. You also want to save some of those faves for
the encore. Closing the show with a
bunch of atmospheric wankery was the concert equivalent of drunken sex; ending
the show with a sleepy resignation, rather than a bang.
Worst of
all, was the audience experience. Some
guy in the back was shouting “woo!” about once every bar, and when he wasn’t “wooing”
he was loudly insulting the crowd for not standing up enough. Standing up at a concert is a spontaneous and
joyful thing; you wreck it when you demand its appearance prematurely. Also dude – it’s rude.
The area
near us had people talking through the concert, although mercifully not as loud
as Standalone Guy. It made me wonder why
they bought tickets – you could do that just as easily at home while listening
to the four singles you downloaded from iTunes.
To be
fair, a lot of the fans were as rapt as Sheila and I, and it was nice to see
other people came for the music, and were equally aghast at the bad behavior of
an unhappy few. However, even legitimate
fans had no defence from the legions of bad, out-of-time clappers. These folks took up their cause even during
slow parts of songs where clapping would’ve been awkward even if it was on the
beat.
Still, I’m
glad I went, and the Shins were good enough to ‘shine’ through the challenges
and deliver a generally solid show.
Best tracks: Simple Song, It’s Only Life, No Way Down, Fall of ‘82
No comments:
Post a Comment