TRACKLIST

1. Sleeping Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:58  2. Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:57  3. Pam Berry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0:57  4. Phantom Limb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:49  5. Sealegs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5:23  6. Red Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:32  7. Turn on Me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:43  8. Black Wave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:19  9. Spilt Needles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:47 10. Girl Sailor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:46 11. A Comet Appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:49 12. Nothing At All [bonus track]. . . . . . . . . . . .4:08 13. Spilt Needles (Alternate Version) [bonus track] . .3:28

REVIEW
"The Shins will change your life!" That kind of proclamation is loaded with expectations when it's just one friend talking up a band to another, but it's magnified a thousandfold when Natalie Portman says it in a hit movie. The band's popularity was already growing steadily with each album they released, but Garden State took them to another level entirely -- if anyone's life was changed by that praise-filled cameo, it was the Shins'. The expectations and pressure that the Garden State effect brought could've been too much for any band, especially a delicate, wistful one like the Shins. Though they took a little while to deliver a new album, Wincing the Night Away shows that time was well spent. Neither a retread nor a radical departure -- nor, thankfully, a conscious attempt at making "life-changing" music -- the album is a mix of quintessentially Shins songs and tracks that take their sound in subtly different directions. Wincing's clean, borderline slick production is the main concession to the band's post-Garden State fame, but this just makes joyfully sad songs like "Australia" and "Turn on Me" sound like nods to jangly '80s indie instead of jangly '60s guitar pop. "Phantom Limb," Wincing the Night Away's single, is the closest the album comes to the Shins-by-numbers that some fans feared this album would be in the wake of their mainstream success, though the strange, soaring chord change that leads into the chorus keeps things from being too predictable. Actually, many of the album's best moments show how the Shins' music has progressed: "Sleeping Lessons" begins and defines Wincing the Night Away, moving from shimmery opening keyboards to strummy acoustic guitars to a rousing, electrified finish. "Black Wave" is another standout, a stark ballad with chilly layers of electronic textures surrounding James Mercer's plaintive vocals, and "Split Needles" continues this dark, dreamy, synth-heavy feel. The band ventures even farther from familiar territory with "Sea Legs"' slinky beat and funky bassline, and with "Red Rabbits"' keyboards, which sound like a cross between dripping water and steel drums. These experiments never feel contrived, and never get in the way of the vulnerable heart of the Shins' music (which beats loudest on the hopeful album closer, "A Comet Appears"). Wincing the Night Away is the sound of the Shins acknowledging where they've been and moving on to new territory, and while it probably won't change your life, it probably will make it more enjoyable -- and, most likely, that's all the Shins wanted to do in the first place.

SPOILER!

CODE Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008 EAC extraction logfile from 22. December 2008, 16:28 The Shins / Wincing the Night Away Used drive  : PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-216  Adapter: 1  ID: 0 Read mode              : Secure Utilize accurate stream : Yes Defeat audio cache      : Yes Make use of C2 pointers : No Read offset correction                      : 96 Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes Delete leading and trailing silent blocks  : No Null samples used in CRC calculations      : Yes Used interface                              : Installed external ASPI interface Gap handling                                : Appended to previous track Used output format              : User Defined Encoder Selected bitrate                : 128 kBit/s Quality                        : High Add ID3 tag                    : No Command line compressor        : C:\Programmi\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=EAC FLAC -8" %s TOC of the extracted CD     Track |  Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector     ---------------------------------------------------------         1  |  0:00.00 |  3:58.02 |        0    |    17851          2  |  3:58.02 |  3:56.55 |    17852    |    35606          3  |  7:54.57 |  0:56.60 |    35607    |    39866          4  |  8:51.42 |  4:47.40 |    39867    |    61431          5  | 13:39.07 |  5:22.45 |    61432    |    85626          6  | 19:01.52 |  4:30.55 |    85627    |  105931          7  | 23:32.32 |  3:41.63 |    105932    |  122569          8  | 27:14.20 |  3:19.10 |    122570    |  137504          9  | 30:33.30 |  3:45.47 |    137505    |  154426        10  | 34:19.02 |  3:44.33 |    154427    |  171259        11  | 38:03.35 |  3:52.60 |    171260    |  188719        12  | 41:56.20 |  4:08.05 |    188720    |  207324        13  | 46:04.25 |  2:28.19 |    207325    |  218443  Track  1     Filename E:\CDRip\01 - Sleeping Lessons.wav     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.00     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC F78D8883     Copy CRC F78D8883     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track  2     Filename E:\CDRip\02 - Australia.wav     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC 750EB8D3     Copy CRC 750EB8D3     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track  3     Filename E:\CDRip\03 - Pam Berry.wav     Peak level 94.4 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC 16B2FCCE     Copy CRC 16B2FCCE     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track  4     Filename E:\CDRip\04 - Phantom Limb.wav     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 99.9 %     Test CRC 67B33142     Copy CRC 67B33142     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track  5     Filename E:\CDRip\05 - Sealegs.wav     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC FA2DACD8     Copy CRC FA2DACD8     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track  6     Filename E:\CDRip\06 - Red Rabbits.wav     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC CFEE14CD     Copy CRC CFEE14CD     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track  7     Filename E:\CDRip\07 - Turn on Me.wav     Pre-gap length  0:00:01.07     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 99.9 %     Test CRC 13DE5312     Copy CRC 13DE5312     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track  8     Filename E:\CDRip\08 - Black Wave.wav     Pre-gap length  0:00:00.08     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC 385056B2     Copy CRC 385056B2     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track  9     Filename E:\CDRip\09 - Spilt Needles.wav     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC 8BD05CB1     Copy CRC 8BD05CB1     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track 10     Filename E:\CDRip\10 - Girls Sailor.wav     Pre-gap length  0:00:00.50     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 99.9 %     Test CRC C8F5291F     Copy CRC C8F5291F     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track 11     Filename E:\CDRip\11 - A Comet Appears.wav     Peak level 99.9 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC F7CA0C82     Copy CRC F7CA0C82     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track 12     Filename E:\CDRip\12 - Nothing At All [bonus track].wav     Pre-gap length  0:00:03.45     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 99.9 %     Test CRC 924F786F     Copy CRC 924F786F     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK Track 13     Filename E:\CDRip\13 - Spilt Needles (Alternate Version) [bonus track].wav     Peak level 100.0 %     Track quality 100.0 %     Test CRC 00685AA8     Copy CRC 00685AA8     Track not present in AccurateRip database     Copy OK None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database No errors occurred End of status report