The Shins | Wincing The Night Away LP

Recorded in singer/guitarist James Mercer's basement studio, Phil Ek's Seattle digs and in Oregon City with veteran engineer Joe Chiccarelli (Beck, U2), Wincing the Night Away is The Shins' third full-length album. It's also the sound of a band growing up and out. Mercer's infectious, indelible melodic style is still at the core, and unfaltering. But anything can happen around it – and in this case, it does. While the vocals channel the spirit of Morrissey, "Sea Legs" pairs a loping hip-hop beat with lush melody and searing guitars. Elsewhere the band toys with tweaked-out, liquid piano steeped in kaleidoscopic strings ("Red Rabbit"); fractured synth samples ("Split Needles"); gauzy keyboards cloaking thunderous anthems ("Sleeping Lessons"); and, taking cues from early Jesus and Mary Chain albums, sweeping, fuzz-toned epics ("Phantom Limb").

1. Sleeping Lessons
2. Australia
3. Pam Berry
4. Phantom Limb
5. Sea Legs
6. Red Rabbits
7. Turn On Me
8. Black Wave
9. Spilt Needles
10. Girl Sailor
11. A Comet Appears