The Shins 'Port of Morrow' not perfect
CD art cover titled "Port of Morrow" by The Shins Credit: Handout/
The Shins' fourth album, "Port of Morrow" (Columbia), isn't groundbreaking. It's nice.
That shouldn't really be a problem, though in the superlative-filled world of today's indie rock, where everything apparently is the best ever or horrifyingly bad, it may be. Head Shin James Mercer's perfectionist persona may also take a hit because, well, this ain't perfect.
"Port of Morrow" starts encouragingly enough with the intensely poetic "The Rifles Spiral" and the first single "Simple Song," which is anything but. The way "Simple Song" combines '60s Motown rhythms, '70s rock bombast, '90s alt-rock dynamics and a current lyrical sensibility shows how exceptional Mercer's mind is at building songs that are truly unique and inspirational.
Though it's unfair to expect everything on the album to meet such a high standard, the falloff from there is so steep that it's hard not to feel disappointed. While the weird mix of skittering Radiohead percussion and jazz guitar rhythms on "Bait and Switch" is at least ambitious, if not necessarily successful, "It's Only Life" is disconcertingly close to OneRepublic melodically, while the straightforward "September" is reminiscent of Crowded House. And as interesting as the lyrics of "No Way Down" are, the breezy music he pairs with them sounds like one of those anonymous British bands that rose up to follow in Lloyd Cole and The Commotions' footsteps.
Like so much of "Port of Morrow," it ends up being less than the sum of its promising parts.
"Port of Morrow"
THE GRADE B
BOTTOM LINE Easy listening rock that's a little too easy
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