The Shins
Chutes Too Narrow
Sub Pop

It's springtime here in Australia, and the sophomore album by The Shins couldn't have come at a better time. In the run up to the summer you need half an eye on new music to listen to as you bask in the sun, or drive down the freeway, windows open and sunglasses on.

When Oh, Inverted World (2001) was released, the murmurs of Beach Boys influences seemed far too good to be true, so I steered clear. Cynical fool. But now, on the strength of Chutes Too Narrow, and the fact that I'm going to catch them live next week with Iron & Wine, I need to get my teeth into that beauty too - and let those melodic juices run all down my chin.

The merits of Chutes Too Narrow are so obvious that you just have to get your own copy to enjoy it yourself. It's all here: excellent songwriting, crystal-clear production, catchy melodies - all compressed into 35 minutes. Once you get to the end you go around again for another spin and let those hooks dig ever deeper. Easy comparisons? Jellyfish, The New Pornographers, the more upbeat side of Elliott Smith - yes, that good.

My acid test for an album like this is how your favourite song changes with each listen, until you can't decide which damn track is best - so you love the whole thing. First off I fell for the blinding opener, "Kissing the Lipless", which had me punching the air with joy as the whole bands bursts in after the first verse. And then when the song dissolves at the end in a glistening pond of glockenspiel you realise there's the magic formula at work here, used most notably by someone like Jim O'Rourke: accessible songs with subtlety and depth.

I've since been enjoying the chorus of "Mine's Not A High Horse", "Young Pilgrims", where the phrase "Chutes too narrow" derives, the gorgeous vocal harmonies of "Saint Simon", and the incredibly moving lead guitar line in "Pink Bullets". But I'm sure that'll change again.

As I head up the east coast in a couple of months I can guarantee this, and Oh, Inverted World, will remain in the CD player. Just so long as my wife doesn't go mad first. "Not The Shins again...".

Copyright © 2003 Tim Clarke