The Shins Wincing the Night Away Debut #2
February 2nd, 2007
The Shins’ new album Wincing the Night Away grabbed the number two spot on billboard’s top 200 albums. This is unheard of for most indie albums, especially albums from indie rock artists like The Shins.
The Shins‘ new album has been highly anticipated, and it has definitely lived up to expectations. The entire indie music scene seems to be taken aback by this massive debut for the indie rock outfit. Subpop Records‘, the Shins’ label, previous highest album ranking on Billboard was #79. Yeah, this is a big deal for the label as well.
Their leading single Phantom Limb, which has been all over the internet before the album release, has found its way into the top 20 of Billboard’s Modern Rock chart as well.
So am I surprised of the Shins massive debut? Yes and no. Yes, because it just never seems to happen. Indie music doesn’t seem to be allowed to grab the top rankings. I was expecting Billboard to lie about the rankings before they would actually put an indie artist at the top like they have.
But then on the other hand, I can’t be surprised because The Shins are down right good. Their sound definitely has mainstream potential similar to what Death Cab For Cutie had as well, so I can understand how the mainstream has embraced them. DCFC got some playtime and headed over to Dreamworks, and The Shins will probably find themselves in a similar position now. Let’s just hope that The Shins will not follow DCFC’s lead, and that they’ll stay with Subpop.
February 11th, 2007 at 1:02 am
Good for them. I've been a fan for a long time and like with so many bands, can't understand how their brilliance has gone so unappreciated. It messes a bit with my compensating paradigm, which has been that most of the masses have terrible taste, because most of the masses are stupid and lack the ability to percieve subtlety, or appreciate anything that hasn't been sanctioned by the proper media 'authorities'... but I'm willing to accept that possibility that I'm not all right all the time. Or that some other factor has allowed for this anomaly.
Anyway, yay Shins!