The Shins “Wincing The Night Away” (Sub Pop)

Historically, the tragedy (and treasure) behind most of the best indie music is that it never really finds the audience it deserves. Because these songs remained largely buried beneath the mountainous mainstream, they become perfect little secrets, and over time become legitimate classics. But when The Shins rose from cult favorite to hipster darlings thanks to “Garden State,” everything changed dramatically. The quartet who had quietly banged out two impeccable pop records now had the unintentional problem of appeasing both masters: loyalists and “Garden State” fans. “Wincing the Night Away” is a lovely record, more a chip off the old block than a new direction, highlighting the vocals of James Mercer and the warm woody instrumentation of the rest of the band. Sure there are singles here (“Phantom Limb”), but the album is largely a more complicated affair than their earlier two filled with slower ballads and more musical numbers than represent more a natural progression cop out. With hype always comes more critical analysis than is fair, and this album will suffer because in a way years.