Tag Archives: the shins

#702: The Shins – Kissing the Lipless

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I’ve tried to get into The Shins but I’ve long conceded that their albums don’t do that much for me. Long ago I downloaded Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow because I’d seen that they were praised very well. I do think Chutes is better – I deleted Inverted because I never returned to it – but even then there are two tracks on there that I listen to.

‘Kissing the Lipless’ starts off Chutes Too Narrow, an album that is now reaching twenty years since its release. It probably means a lot to many people. Been the soundtrack to many a formative year and important moments. Can’t say that for me. I’ve got to admit that I haven’t even listened to this song many times to properly gauge its meaning. I just really like James Mercer’s vocals on this. Usually, his vocals are what prevent me from really getting into a Shins song – but he sings the melody so strongly and with pure gusto that it’s hard not to feel some emotion from it.

In terms of what it’s about….? I can’t go into too much detail without copying it from somewhere else. But I believe it’s about a friendship that has ended and all the memories that it once contained. Something along those lines.

My iPod #368: The Shins – Fighting in a Sack

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While looking for more music to listen to I stumbled across “Chutes Too Narrow“, the second album released by indie rock band The Shins in 2003. The group had been one that I had heard of before; I watched their music videos for their singles “Phantom Limb” and “Australia” when they were due to release “Wincing the Night Away”. Though I didn’t become a fan of their stuff straight away, I did like the sound of those two songs and even if I wasn’t left awestruck or anything their melodies still popped in my head at the most random of times.

There are a lot of those cheerful, memorable melodies on each track of “Chutes Too Narrow”, and “Fighting in a Sack” was the one that I liked the most out of all of them. It’s a sprightly two-and-a-half-minute number questioning death, how we as human beings feel about this inevitability and the possibility that the topic wouldn’t be so heavy if we all enjoyed living in the moment and making most of the time we have.

Filled with little keyboard licks, a leaping vocal performance by James Mercer, a harmonica solo and a bright “woo” chant before it are included, and it never fails to make me that bit happier when listening to it.