If you're unfamiliar with The Shins, or if you favor songs loaded with repetitive, predictable lyrics, then you might listen to this album once and walk away unsatisfied. However, dare to listen to it twice and you'll be hooked.

These guys may appear regular and unassuming, but they'll blindside the unsuspecting with haunting guitar rifts, offbeat drums, and playful lyrics that roll out in a refreshingly unfamiliar pattern - terrific fuel for the creative mind.

This is a pretty good album. Other reviewers have commented sufficiently about the songs and music.

It has one outstanding problem that many albums have these days. Someone wanted the CD to be loud. The drums sound awful. Distortion and clipping all over the place. Track 4 has guitar strums that are as loud as the drums, causing the drums to essentially disappear while the guitar is strummed! If it weren't for the fairly prolonged quite parts that The Shins tend to use, the album would be utterly unlistenable. As it is, I can't really bring myself to come back for repeat listens.

Another victim of the loudness war I'm afraid.

Get this album now! I don't listen to anything else remotely resembling the Shins, but I LOVE this CD! The songs stay in your brain and come back weeks after you've shelved the thing. And in a good way. I wanted a different Shins CD last year and my wife picked this one up instead. Definitely my favorite!

The best of the music in this CD is perhaps the very best new music I've heard in several years. Even the less accessible tracks are somewhat odd but still vaguely familiar - a bit like going to the neighborhood bar for your customary pint of pale ale and finding it seasoned with orange and cinnamon.

Hey! It's all good. Drink up!

I hear bits of influence from the Replacements, from several unnamed avante garde poets, and even from the Beach Boys. And deep within is something completely original and silken-smooth.

All of it is truly fresh, unique and thought-provoking. As I write this, I've had the album for three months and listened to it at least 15 times and am still finding savory tidbits among the somewhat dense lyrics. Even better, I am intrigued enough that I want to still sift through those lyrics after repeated efforts.

The Shins never fail to amaze me, every album has it's own special sound. Wincing the Night Away in particular shows a band whose melodic maturity has
easily jumped far beyond most popular acts today, yet they still remain in a perfect state of obscurity. James Mercer's lyrics, and voice along with the almost psychedelic/space rock sound are in perfect sync through out the album.
Favorite tracks: Black Wave, Sea Legs, Sleeping Lessons

(If you like or dislike review, please vote. Thank you)

It took me 3 months to realize that this is the one of a couple of the best albums i've heard in the past 5 years.

James Mercer is a musical genius cleverly disguised as a mid tempo rock-pop singer.

Just awesome.

The Shins seem to get better with each album. I strongly recommend this album for those who are even mildly interested in The Shins. I can't wait for their next release!

Matt Zarnstorff
Zarnstorff

I won't write a long review of this, but just a few thoughts....
The first 4 tracks are simply outstanding, and come together incredibly. The rest of the album is outstanding. A big fan of their first two albums, I didn't much appreciate this one. After I bought it, it went into storage for about a month after I heard it the first time. As of now, I listen to it through about 1 or 2 times a week. It is truly a great album.

Hey, I am a newcomer to the Shins. Please be patient with me here. Their lyrics are cryptic, and all over the pyscho map. The words remind me of tossed salads, or the kind of stuff you find text messaged on your cell phone from strangers. However the melodies are hummable, almost danceable, with lots of feedback and electric buzz. I found "Phantom Limb" and "A Comet Appears" above the others. Color me crazy, but "A Comet Appears" touches on some deep issues, cool stuff set to electric guitar. What's most enjoyable about The Shins is that they do not seem to take themselves all that seriously, and yet there is some creative heavy stuff going on here. Kudos to this indie bunch !

Great CD. Reminds me of what I grew up with--alternative, indie rock I grew up listening to in the 80's and early 90's.

I have to be honest, I was given this CD about seven months before I sat down and really listened to it. I was rather upset with myself for having took so long. Several really catchy songs that really leave you wanting more. Tracks 1, 4, and 11 are the most commercial, and also the best, in my opinion. When listening to them I am taken back to the moody pop/alternative bands of the 1980s, they especially sound like The Church, from Australia. This album makes me want to seek out other of their stuff.

I thought Oh, Inverted World was great, however this album is unbelievably GENIUS! I don't say that a lot. Sleeping Lessons, the whole kill the old guard and do good and change the world message is perfect. It is by far my favorite song. It explodes more than 2 minutes in and the whole album has a great energy in it, that's hard to find. Sea Legs- A song I initially thought was ok, but not what I expect of the Shins sound. But would say one of my favorites after a few listens. Black Wave- another song that swells and shrinks sonically and takes you with it. The whole thing has a playful sound and a lot of great changes from Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow. This album is definitely one of the best releases this year. My mom even loves it!

Best band ever. Incredible album. Look for the big hitters: Girl Sailor, Turn On Me, Red Rabbits and Australia.

Good song after good song is what most CDs promise but fail to deliver. Not so with the Shins third effort. I can't stop humming all the good tunes in my head!

On this fulfilling and masterful album, The Shins have written and produced some of the most capricious, playful, and delicious melodies anyone has written in years. I cannot easily recall the last time I heard melodies this fun, with notes so varied yet perfectly seamed and intertwined. I liked The Shins before Wincing the Night Away. Now I love them.

It took listening to the album about five times before I fell in love with it, so if your ears react like mine give it a chance. At first it will seem all over the place.

All songs are great and two are brilliant:

1- Sleeping Lessons - Melodically, one of the most original songs ever written. Incredible!
2- Turn on Me - Currently, one of those hidden pop gems like Erasure's "A Little Respect", that was mostly unknown in 1988 (when released), was never a big hit anywhere, but everyone heard it and loved it years later as if it had been a huge hit. In Turn on Me's case, I hope it remains a hidden gem. With today's one-sided radio trend, I am almost certain it will remain relatively unknown to the world --- Great for all of us who would prefer not to have it overplayed like A Little Respect was.

If I were forced to compare the songs on this album to other artists, I would compare them to The Smiths/Morrisey in a more playful and joyful way, and Erasure in a more honest/down-to-earth/grass-rooted way, and much less "fabricated for appeal" way.

I love this album! I have no doubt it will be on my Top 5 albums of 2008.

I agree wholeheartedly with Natz (Dec. 5). This is my first exposure to The Shins, and I listen to it over and over and over... and it's interesting the way it will remind you of other things and yet be completely fresh. And I keep thinking of people I need to introduce to these guys.

I'm ordering the first two CDs. If this is "the third - and therefore - growing pains album" as the critic says, the first two must be transcendent.

I bought this a few weeks ago and I cannot take it out of my CD player. This is the first Shins CD I've ever bought and I am so glad I did. Playable from track 1 all the way through. This CD is so unique but it feels so familiar...

It's hard to understand what people like and don't like about music. Personally, I find it impossible to understand why people who have heard this album don't think it's the best thing the band has ever done. I find it inconceivable that someone who's heard either record multiple times could prefer the unsatisfying and uneven Chutes Too Narrow to a masterwork like this. I don't say this to provoke; I simply mean that I can't understand it.

But then, I didn't really think that much of Wincing the Night Away at first. At first, it seemed like a fairly enervated album, listless and noncommittal. Phantom Limb was great, Girl Sailor and Australia were nice, but the rest didn't make much of an impression. But I kept feeling compelled to listen to the album, and somewhere around the fifteenth listen I realized that it was the best music I had heard in a long while.

Mercer's voice is a crucial component, and it's better here than it's ever been. His melodic sense is stronger than ever, finding bizarre paths for his vocals to follow through the songs that nevertheless make total sense once you're used to them. The music is interesting, well-played, and involving. And the lyrics use a personal idiom that seems like Enoesque obfuscation at first, but over time begin to make personal emotional sense.

And while The Shins have made emotionally compelling music before, never have they done such a consistent, thorough, and soulful job of it as here. After dozens of listens, it's still fresh, rewarding, and, in a strange and existentially despairing way, comforting. Absolutely one of 2007's finest records.

I bought this when it first came out for like $7 at my local record shop and put it on the shelf for 2 months. After finally putting it to the test it has never left my rotation. I listen to this at least twice a week and it never ceases to delight. Great melodies, harmonies etc. Buy it and give it a few spins...this is a classic!

This is a wonderful album. In my opinion, this is The Shins best album yet. I feel as though it's a perfect mix of Oh Inverted World and Chutes too Narrow. It has the upbeat spunky hits on Chutes too Narrow, but also the more mellow songs that Oh Inverted world had. It is a good mix, but The Shins have also managed to create a new sound unique to Wincing the night away. If you like The Shins past two albums, you'll like this.

when i heard this song (phantom limb) first thing that hit me was... is this a long lost beach boys/b. wilson song? or a song about one of the villians from the adultswim cartoon show "the venture bros."

I don't know if Amazon publishes reviews that sort-of plug Amazon.

I don't work for Amazon.

I DO love the ability to listen to clips of music before I buy an album. And to Amazon's credit, you can listen to 30 seconds of EVERY track on lots of albums. This gives you a great feel for a whole album before you plunk your money down, and you can do this all in your jammies.

Anyway, that's how I discovered this album by The Shins. Actually, this is also how I discovered The Shins. And Spoon Gimme Fiction. And The New Pornographers Twin Cinema...

It's forever refreshing to hear new music by contemporary groups that are making fun, tuneful pop, a la The Beatles and XTC.

No painful "Downward Spiral" or pompous preaching here. No need to cuss every other word, until the words have lost their punch. They just deliver forty or so minutes of audio bliss.

Thanks.

...His song writing on this album is quite marvelous.

it might take you years to accurately understand what this man is actually saying but once you do, your eyes might spill onto your keyboard.

I will end this review by quoting a line from "a Comet appears" (which is this albums "New Slang"...

"Every post you can hitch your faith on,
Is a pie in the sky,
Chock full of lies,
A tool we devise,
To make sinking stones fly"

Beautiful. The Shins deliver once again.

After reading other reviews, I was prepared to not like this album. I love the other Shins albums so I purchased it despite my fellow Shins fans telling me that it was just "ok."

At first I agreed - their sound was a little different, maybe a little more pop than indie - and I thought, just OK. But after listening to this CD in my car I've changed my mind. Their sound is different and it's still good - it evolved. There's something special here that I missed at first listen because I wanted it to sound like the Shins I knew with the same formula of sound that I liked.

I will always love the other Shins albums, but this one now has a special spot in my playlist. It's constantly changing and growing for me. Every time I listen to it, I pick a new favorite song and a new reason why this album is so great.

This is a great album - but I wouldn't recommend it as a first Shins album. Wincing the Night away is a part of a journey and I realize more and more that it is the band's personal leg of the journey, self exploration, experimentation, and change - I'm happy to be along for the ride.

A beautifully written album which no doubt gives the world a slightly more accessable entry into Shinspace. Their best work yet? Hard to say but the fun factor is there making it a summery favourite for punters and music critics alike.

I heard a song from the Shins on the radio, and I immediately thought: I like this kind of music. The CD sounded very promising. It's the kind of music that gets better the more you hear it. The lead vocals do not follow the easy way. Every time there are unexpected changes. The music gives me a sixty-feeling. Back to my youth. I like it very much!

This was my first foray into the shins. I resisted them largely because of the awful film Garden State. I finally bit on this cd and am glad I did. I now have several of their albums, and think this one is the most enjoyable. It's the most polished and varied. Critics of it may dislike the more mainstream pop sounds in it, but I think the Shins do well in that style. I find myself listening to songs from this album frequently many months later, and finally "get" why people like the Shins (though still have no idea why anyone likes Garden State).

Some great songs. Some that get fast forwarded through routinely. I always think it's worth owning the entire album, art work and all, so I'd not suggest specific downloads, but certainly some songs could be left out if you're in to high yield music listening.

Sounding for all the world like a fully-functioning, confident band, The Shins try to make the leap to mainstream in life after "Garden State." The good news is they succeed, but perhaps to the detriment of those cliquish fans who would snarl at any sign of ambition. The songs are tighter, less dreamy, more obvious in their aim to please. While it makes for a more cohesive record, it most certainly doesn't make them sell-outs. Amazon's snarky sophomoric review aside, this is The Shins' maturing and hoping their audience will come along for the ride.

There doesn't seem to be any reason to doubt the listeners would want to stay away. The Shins do lean in a folk-hybrid direction on a lot of the songs on "Wincing," in a really good way. "Red Rabbit" and "Phantom Limb" could have been unplugged Pixies songs with sharper lyrics. "Sea Legs" is even funky, in that Beck sort of way. And if you are still searching for that atmospheric song to haunt you, then "Black Wave" is for you. Overall, a solid album that has grown on me over the months.

This music does not really go anywhere but I suppose if you peoples are looking for something to relax to then it works. Better than the white stripers and much, much better than Radiohead, jiminy spinners Batman I get so fed up with hearing about those guys. Ok computer..so is that like a person saying "ok computer...delete all my shins mp3's and replace them with Ron Jeremy videos" or what? Shins are better than Achilles or Shoulders or tummys and they really are better than death cab for cutie. C'mon you know DCFC got that name from the Cab in that Heavy Metal cartoon, you know when the fare is getting fried because the driver just steps on a button and it shoots him with a lazer that vaporizes him. He did not even have to say "Ok Comptuer...fry the guy in the back because he did not pay his fare!" yeah right, whatever peoples.

Just get a Shins CD they are better, oh so much better than Modest Mouse. Mousies they drone along and whine and that music is really junk, the Shins have it going on so I suggest you say "Ok computer, delete all my modest mouse music files" and just be done with it. Life is short, listen to good music!

and for that matter too calculated, tame, or harmless. As others have said, it does grow on you, but there's not much of a sense of urgency (unlike its predicessors.) Like the Strokes, with each new album, their music seems to be getting less relevant. Nonetheless, worth getting, no "skip-tracks" per se....I like "sea legs," "phantom limb" and "split needles" the best. Don't make this your first Shins album though...

I can't say enough about this album. I've been listening to it nonstop over the past month and it seems to get better with every consecutive listen. I bought it on Vinyl as well as I'm a bog vinyl junky. The lyrics are sophisticated. The production is stellar. The music is upbeat and yet very soothing. It's a ten. Across the board one of the best albums of the year in my opinion. I can't say enough. I have "liked" past Shins albums, however, this album is a little different. Overall, it seems the arrangement of the songs is more dynamic. It seemed to me on past Shins albums that some of the songs were a bit mundane and lacked real punch. Here the songwriting really stands out. This album is, in other words, "well crafted". I can't say enough good things about this.

So slight as to be difficult to detect or describe; elusive: a subtle smile.
Difficult to understand; abstruse: an argument whose subtle point was lost on her opponent.
Able to make fine distinctions: a subtle mind.

Characterized by skill or ingenuity; clever.
Crafty or sly; devious.
Operating in a hidden, usually injurious way; insidious: a subtle poison.

Being the 145th reviewer here, there is little to add. Without delving too deeply into the music or musicians (I'll leave that for others), I would recommend "Wincing the Night Away" for its creativity and craft.

Listening to the songs is like a nearly perfect summer's day spent swimming in ocean: awash with sounds and enough surprises to keep from being lulled to sleep. I consider this recording to be one of those guilty pleasures--something I never thought I would like to this degree.

I never got a chance to listen to the Shins' first album Oh, Inverted World, but I picked up Chutes Too Narrow and enjoyed it; the only real problem there was that a lot of the songs were too short in that the band was building up to something but then decided to just end the songs. Well, I have absolutely no complaints about their latest album, Wincing the Night Away.

This was another one of those cases where the announced Saturday Night Live musical guest was an artist that I didn't know had any recent material out (and speaking of SNL, FYI: the woman singing with the band was Viva Voce vocalist Anita Robinson). But I was pleased because that's when I was first introduced to the single "Phantom Limb", which might be the best song on the album; but the funky "Sea Legs" runs a close second. And "Red Rabbits" and "Sleeping Lessons" are haunting yet enjoyable.

Other notables include "Australia", "A Comet Appears", "Turn On Me", and, well, everything else. While it's true that "wincing" usually denotes what one would do if something was bad, this album definitely won't have you doing that, so pick it up.

Anthony Rupert