Indie: The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow

Pardon my tardiness. I actually had this album on my mp3 player for about to weeks, but it is now that I have actual time to write my review for it.

This album, Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins, was chosen by common recommendations for Band of Horses, Modest Mouse, and Yo La Tengo. The other two artists I have in my database listed as indie are Kickball and The Smiths, but they seemed not to have much in common with the other three.

Chutes Too Narrow begins kind of boring, to be honest. It sounds pleasant, but there's not too much that stands out in the first two tracks. I had heard The Shins music before and it was not nearly as acoustic as these two songs. I was hoping that the rest of the album wouldn't be so focused on acoustics, and my wish came true.

So Says I (Track 3) is when the electricity and rock n' roll decide to show up. The entire song is hyped up and fun to listen to, with Band of Horses-like vocals. However this style of music lasts shortly.

As soon as Young Pilgrims comes on it's back to acoustic chords and boring progression, an alright country-style guitar solo comes in at 2 minutes in, and the lyrics are ok from what I can tell.

Saint Simon sounds like an oldie. I'm not a fan of it. Skip.

Ahh, Fighting In a Sack! Finally something fast again! The sixth track saved this album from impending deletion. That's not really a good thing, but this song has a harmonica! And a good use of it, too. Maybe I'll stick around for another song...

Sticking around was a mistake. Pink Bullets is acoustic, and boring. I don't have anything wrong with acoustic guitars or playing them, I promise. It's just whenever people pull out their acoustic in the studio making an indie rock album, it's like the only way to play is slow and with chords. Don't be afraid, shred on that acoustic just like you would on electric! Here, I will site my evidence.

Track 8 sounds pretty familiar. Turn a Square uses a generic electric guitar plucking progression with an acoustic chord progression background and is quite melodic. I would be interested in it if the second verse didn't sound exactly like the first.

Gone for Good. Is this really a country slide guitar? I like it. It's perfectly in place. Where did that harmonica go? Bring that bad boy back and we'll have a mountain man hipster ho-down! I think more indie bands should try a slide guitar. It would work so well with Modest Mouse's vocalist, for instance.

The final track, Those to Come, is even slower than the other acoustic "jams", and yet evades the classification of lullaby. This is common in a conclusive track.

In conclusion, if all The Shins albums are like this, you might want to just rip the good songs off of FrostWire. I wrote this nice little guide for you to use. I will NOT be adding this artist to the database.

Good songs: So Says I, Fighting in a Sack, and Gone for Good.