The Shins - "Port Of Morrow"
BY BURAK ŞAHİN (IR/IV)
burak_s@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
The Shins were established in 1996, but they haven't released that many studio albums during the period since then. Now, the band is back with their fourth album, five years after their last one. "Port Of Morrow" was released in March 2012. The band's frontman, James Mercer, has tried different things during these five years. He collaborated with Brian Burton from Danger Mouse to work successfully in the band Broken Bells, and he has added electronic timbres to his canvas. By the way, he has also become a father since The Shins' last album. It can be said that "Port Of Morrow" was surely influenced by all these factors, so that the band has returned this time with a more colorful album.
Was it an easy album to make?
James Mercer: "It's never easy! I was commuting each week, flying from Portland to Los Angeles to record it with Greg [Kurstin, producer] at his studio. That sounds arduous but it wasn't too bad. I would nap, read. In fact one of the songs, No Way Down, came about on a flight. I was reading this article about the American trade deficit and the lyrics just came out of me -- which was cool as that song was causing a lot of trouble."(1)
The Shins' members have changed a lot since the band's formation. Now it's clear that the band belongs to James Mercer. "Port Of Morrow" consists of 10 songs, featuring 2 bonus tracks. The first single, "Simple Song," gave listeners a clue about the whole record. Mercer no longer follows a devious path to explain himself, going about it in a simpler way instead: "I know that things can really get rough, When you go it alone. Don't go thinking you gotta be tough, And play like a stone. Could be there's nothing else in our lives so critical, As this little home." The second single, "Bait and Switch," along with "For a Fool," can be added to the list of the band's vintage songs, but these tracks should not mislead you about the whole album.
How long did the album take to write?
James Mercer: "I began working on songs as far back as 2007, when I was winding up things on the last record, and worked through till last summer on and off. Simple Song was one of the earlier songs. I wrote it on the living room floor of my old house. Weirdly enough, the house used to belong to Elliott Smith. My wife and I had no idea when we bought it, it was just a weird coincidence. The neighbours told us once we'd moved in. My friends were like, Man, that's a place in music history, can we come and hang out?!"(2)
Mercer may have chosen easier words to express the meaning of his songs, but he has certainly used a diversity of sounds. The opening track of the album, "The Rifle's Spiral," can be called synth-pop, while he tells of his love in a folk style in "September"; and, in "Fall Of '82" and "No Way Down," The Shins show influences of psychedelic pop and 1960s-90s sound. However, the most obvious change in "Port Of Morrow" is that Mercer has evidently given up being as controlling as he claims. His vocals remain unmistakable, but the sound of the album can be described as "let it ride." The songs seem to be not so much directed as left to find their own way to reach listeners. Although I didn't find any of the tracks as mind-blowing as the earlier "Australia" and my favorite, "New Slang," the album as a whole can be rated a success.
1-2. Q Magazine, April 2012, p. 97.