| | Shins Wincing The Night Away CD Shins Discography of CDs
 (9 Customer Reviews)
With their music referred to as "life-changing" in the popular 2004 film GARDEN STATE, the Shins, already a revered indie-rock band, recorded their third Sub Pop studio album under the weight of high expectations. Finally, in early '07, the group emerged with the strikingly ambitious and accomplished WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY.
On the opening "Sleeping Lessons," woozy keyboard lines and the wavering vocals of frontman James Mercer immediately announce WINCING as a departure, but slowly the drifting atmospherics give way to a guitar-driven rave-up. Much of the record echoes this more expansive sound, with the shimmering "Phantom Limb" hitting a cavernous crescendo, and the dreamy, synth-laden "Red Rabbits" bordering on ambient territory. Of course, the Shins haven't forsaken their knack for pop-perfect tunes, as best evinced by the exuberant "Australia," proving that they can temper newfound experimentalism with the quirky, easy-going charm that garnered them attention in the first place.
Audio Mixer: Joe Chiccarelli.
Recording information: Avast! 2, Seattle, WA; Supernatural Sound, Oregon City, OR; The Aural Apothecary, Portland, OR.
Illustrator: Robert Pierce Mercer.
The Shins: James Mercer (various instruments, programming); Dave Hernandez (guitar); Marty Crandall (bass guitar); Jesse Sandoval.
Personnel: James Mercer (vocals, guitar, banjo, ukulele, synthesizer, percussion); Chris Funk (lap steel guitar, bouzouki, hammer dulcimer); Paloma Griffin (violin); Marty Crandall (organ, synthesizer, percussion); Jesse Sandoval (drums); Anita Robinson (background vocals).
Rolling Stone (p.71) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "The melodies are very nearly on par with the curlicues and knockout drops of the band's breakthrough, and Mercer is still singing so lithe and refined you'd think Ray Charles had never existed."
Spin (p.p.87) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[W]istful....WINCING is a purposefully low-impact affair. On the gorgeous finale, 'A Comet Appears,' Mercer picks at a nimble guitar line like it's 3 a.m...."
Q (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[S]uper-smart pop music the way they used to make it 20 years ago....The Shins deliver anthems to little people in troubled times. Life-changing, for sure."
Uncut (p.72) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[E]verything is awash in shimmering production, harmonic flourishes and unexpected textures."
Alternative Press (p.109) - "[T]he bright points are plenty bright..."
Q (Magazine) (p.87) - Ranked #08 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "There are twists, but no clutter, just a gentle lyricism leaving every song lie from the inside. WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY is, on its own quiet terms, a little landmark." Wincing The Night Away Music Shins Wincing The Night Away Songs Wincing The Night Away Music Wincing The Night Away Music Review Average Rating: (4.6 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Delightful
I was at a Barnes & Noble and I listened to a clip of the song sleeping lessons and I was enchanted by how the music made me feel. I had never listened to the shins music before. I bought the CD that day and just fell in the love with every song. At first some of the music confused me but the more I listened to it the more I wanted to hear more. Its a great taste of indie alternative music
Submitted by bree_an_ee_uh (Wisconsin)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
 Good but not Great
I gave this four stars because I love the Shins earlier CDs but this one was a little disappointing. The first five tracks are spectacular because they're energetic and lively. Then it goes downhill from there; the remaining tracks are slow, boring, and lack the oomph of their previous work.
Submitted by Laine (washington dc)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
Fantastic!
Wow, great sounds here. Sealegs is one of just many faves. Sure to be on the alternative radio!
Submitted by carey c (KC, MO, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No  unexpected...
while at times this cd feels like classic shins, the majority of the album strays away into new territory for the band. the flow of the album is steady and sweet and the overall feel takes time to get into to understands where the band is coming from and where they want to go. simply brilliant.
Submitted by markgndlf (Riverside, CA, USA)
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My Personal Favorite
Of all their albums this is my favorite. Much more varied than their previous two. 2007 is looking like a good year...
Submitted by Go Flames Go! (Calgary, AB, Canada)
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Buy Wincing The Night Away CD Purchase Wincing The Night Away CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Shins Oh, Inverted World CD (2001)
Wincing The Night Away
 $12.05   
This is an Enhanced audio CD, which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Additional personnel ...
| | Shins Chutes Too Narrow CD (2003)
Wincing The Night Away
$12.49
Recorded in James Mercer's Basement, Portland, Oregon and Avasti Studio, Seattle, Washington.
When the Shins bowled over music fans and critics alike in 2001 seemingly out of nowhere (but actually out of Albuquerque and years of playing together) with OH, INVERTED WORLD, their stunningly beautiful debut, the comparisons came pouring in. Scribes likened their insistent, melodic sound and James Mercer's hyper-literate, oblique but mellifluous lyrics to many mostly anachronistic, all deeply revered sources, including everything from the Beach Boys to Love.
The follow-up, CHUTES TOO NARROW, meets and often manages to exceed the ...
| | Arcade Fire Funeral CD (2004)
Wincing The Night Away
$12.05
This Montreal ensemble's fiery debut is marked by surging guitars, soulful strings, driving drums, ...
| | TV On The Radio Return To Cookie Mountain CD (2006)
Wincing The Night Away
$9.99
| | Lcd Soundsystem Sound Of Silver CD (2007)
Wincing The Night Away
$8.85
As wryly noted on LCD Soundsystem's debut 2002 single, "Losing My Edge," in the underground music arms race, aging hipsters are losing ground against young upstarts who are (perhaps) unaware of their own influences. And if influences are the stuff with which post-millennial musicians are made, Murphy has trumped us all. Touching on reference points ranging from disco, krautrock, Bowie, house, and post-punk, to singer-songwriter types, SOUND OF SILVER is a veritable catalog of left-field cool. Leading off with the slow-boil, hypnotic opener, "Get Innocuous"--which sounds a bit like a reprise of "Losing My Edge" crossed with Kraftwerk's "The Robots"--the album moves from dance-floor stormers to plaintive piano numbers without batting ...
| | National Boxer CD (2007)
Wincing The Night Away
$9.95
On 2007's BOXER, the National's second full-length ...
| | Yancy Derringer Openers CD (1975)
Wincing The Night Away
$11.59
Yancy Derringer was the sort of faceless hard rock band that bogged down the mid-'70s in banal, redundant musical mediocrity that actually benefited, as impossible as it is to believe, from the excessive glittery onslaught of disco. The Monroe, WI-based band played their brand of straight, no frills, bar-boogie blues at various Midwestern clubs, universities, and festivals throughout the middle of the decade. Ultimately they cut this album, reissued in 1999 by Gear Fab, in 1975. Perhaps the band was a live powerhouse, ...
| | Lale Andersen Das Beste Von Lale & CD (2007) (Import)
Wincing The Night Away
$17.09
| | Coalition Naked Movies CD (2004)
Wincing The Night Away
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| | Christmas Memories CDs (2007)
Wincing The Night Away
$9.85
| | Sinfinis Edge Of A Knife CD (2007)
Wincing The Night Away
$6.39
| | Karius Vega Fluorescent Sound Experiment CD (2007)
Wincing The Night Away
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| | Nostalgia Best Foreign Hits CD (2007) (Import) Import
$17.09 |
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