On Friday, The Shins released their first album since 2012, “Heartworms.” With its eclectic mix of sounds and styles, as well as its touching lyrics, the album looks back on frontman James Mercer’s childhood and highlights the band’s new style.
STARS: 4/5
Lovers of both indie and rock music can agree this album was surely worth the five year wait.
From the start of the album, fans can tell that the band has found a new sound. “Heartworms” opens with an upbeat track, “Name for You.” The song is cute, catchy and perfect to dance around your bedroom to, but it has a deeper meaning.
On the surface, “Name for You” seems to be just a fun song to start the album. Mercer said in an interview with NPR that he intended for the song to be “a hopeful ode of empowerment to his daughters.” Looking at the lyrics makes this message clear.
Mercer sings about young women and how the way they live determines what people decide to call them and think about them. Through lyrics such as “They’ve got a name for you girls / what’s in a name?” Mercer encourages young women to do and dress how they want, reminding them not to let other people’s opinions dictate their lives.
The album’s next couple of songs, “Cherry Hearts” and “Fantasy Island,” leave behind the band’s signature indie-rock style and lean towards a more synth-pop vibe.
“Fantasy Island,” with its layered sound and psychedelic twist, reflects the anxiety Mercer felt as a young boy when his family moved from Britain to New Mexico.
The next track on “Heartworms,” while closer to the music produced by the band in the early 2000s, is drastically different from the other songs on this album.
“Mildenhall,” arguably the best song from the album, is a slower song with a steady mix of country and indie folk. This song, which tells the story of yet another Mercer family move (this time back to England), is simple yet heartwarming.
Mercer shows how he came to love music by singing, “Started messing with my dad’s guitar / Taught me some chords just to start me off / Whittling away on those rainy days / And that’s how we get to where we are now,” giving longtime fans a glimpse into how it all started.
“Heartworms,” a big change from the band’s classic indie folk sound, is The Shins’ most daring album yet. Delightfully different from even the popular indie rock music of today, this album captures Mercer’s heart and soul without relinquishing the complicated — but good — layered music and the simple lyrics that make The Shins easy to listen to and hard to forget.