When is a Shin not a Shin?
This philosophical quandary was the question on the crowds’ minds last night at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre, when The Shins made their first appearance in the city since their songwriter and frontman James Mercer decided to take an indefinite leave of absence at the end of the 2000s, forming Broken Bells with Gnarls Barkley wizard Brian ‘Danger Mouse’ Burton.
When The Shins returned with their new album, ‘Port of Morrow,’ earlier this year, things looked a little different. A lot different actually. The four-piece line-up that had recorded and performed the band’s first three classic indie-pop albums was no more. In its place were five new musicians, custom-picked by Mercer to play his music the way he’d imagined it in his head all along.
Judging by last night’s initial reaction, Shins fans of Vancouver aren’t too bothered with trivialities like who’s actual on stage. They’re fans of the songs of James Mercer. It only took the first few bars of opener “Kissing The Lipless” to ring out before a significant percentage of the audience broke the sedate austerity of the Orpheum by leaping from their seats and rushing to the front of the stage, where they would remain for the entire performance.
It didn’t take long before the new line-up was flexing its musical muscles. “Caring Is Creepy,” a standout from their epic first album, sounded richer, bigger and altogether more rocking than ever before. A good deal of that power came from drummer Joe Plummer, whose arrival from Modest Mouse clearly added a new musicality to The Shins’ previous on-stage Achilles heel.
“Bait and Switch,” one of many great tunes from the new album, saw the first genuine solo of the night from lead guitarist Jessica Dobson. “Saint Simon” was stately and measured. “So Says I” rocked as furiously as any Shins have ever played. “Phantom Limb” swung confidently, ending with a rousing chorus of “Whoa-oh-oh” from the crowd. Mercer was clearly impressed.
“Unfortunately,” he smiled, “there’s no room in the bus for you guys.”
“Australia” was delivered with unfamiliar stops and starts, the sure-fire sign of a band on top of its game, while the actual track “Port of Morrow,” the most bombastic track in The Shins’ catalogue, paired Mercer’s best vocals of the night with a technical performance seemingly beyond his previous colleagues’ capabilities.
And yet, even if James Mercer insists and believes that this new band is The Shins, does that necessarily make it so? It’s a Cartesian musical dilemma that, on last night’s events anyway, has yet to be answered. There’s no denying this new line-up has musical chops far beyond their predecessors.
But should a ticket to The Shins be an opportunity to see the songs of James Mercer played by the best musicians available? Or should those songs be recreated on stage by the same people who recorded them, with all the strengths and limitations those individuals brought to the studio to begin with?
“New Slang,” the song Natalie Portman insisted, “will change your life” in Garden State, emerged with new layers of richness and harmonies. “Sleeping Lessons” delivered unheard levels of speed and precision. “One By One All Day,” the final song of the encore, softened to near-silence, before accelerating into a two-chord Sonic Youth-style freak out. All three sounded great, but at the same time, different. The jury’s still out on whether that’s a good thing or not.
The timeless brilliance of James Mercer’s songs was never in doubt. Whether his new Shins can consistently recreate the rough but irresistible chemistry that somehow emerged from the original foursome’s Portland rehearsal room remains open to debate.
