Wincing produces Smiles

The Shins' Wincing The Night Away doesn't come out until Jan. 23, but how about an early heads-up? Help you take a bit of the gamble out of pre-ordering, perhaps?\nLets cut to the chase. Shins fans: Don't worry, they've still got it. While Chutes Too Narrow remains my favorite, Wincing is very satisfying -- falling well within that difficult balance between freshness and familiarity. \nFor more casual acquaintances, say, those who just know the songs from "Garden State" -- you'll find that it doesn't have quite the narcoleptic dreaminess of those and other tracks from their first album, Oh, Inverted World. However, with lusher instrumentals and frontman James Mercer's voice incorporated deeper into the mix (making his perennially discontented lyrics a bit less obvious), it has an easier-going sound than the rather angry Chutes, and may be more to your taste.\nIn "Sleeping Lessons," a slightly-vocodered Mercer is accompanied by a quiet, spacey xylophone-like keyboard run, then by a little ambient fill, then a little whisk percussion, then a little guitar strumming, which build and build. Then, at about the two-and-a-half-- minute mark: BANG! Guitars and drums charge in and carry off the listener to sing or bounce along. This rolls into the shamelessly enjoyable guitar-pop swing of "Australia" -- then a pause with the album's least-necessary track, "Pam Berry," a nearly minute-long build-up to the first single, "Phantom Limb." \n"Limb," a gorgeous track ostensibly about a lesbian couple's tribulations among small-- town small minds is, more generally, an anthem for outcasts -- sweeping hooks combine with precise lyrical imagery that should resonate with anyone who grew up artsy or geeky in a rural community. In "Sea Legs," Mercer's voice, bent through trippy effects, soars over a simple drum/guitar beat, while "Red Rabbits" combines sweet, whimsical instrumentals with bittersweet, whimsical lyrics. \nNeither song disappoints, but the next real highlight is "Turn On Me," a piece of classic jangle-pop akin to the dB's and early-'80s R.E.M. "Black Wave" provides a hushed, detached break, followed by the angsty-cool, slightly post-punk (think War-era U2) "Split Needles" and "Girl Sailor," a song reminiscent of Elvis Costello's mid-70's take on doo-wop. Finally, things wrap up with "A Comet Appears" -- the closest the album gets to invoking Oh, Inverted World. In short, get it -- or you'll make Natalie Portman cry.