The Shins - Oh, Inverted World [24 bit FLAC] vinyl

The Shins - Oh, Inverted World [24 bit FLAC] vinyl

Released: 2001
Genre: Pop/Rock
Style: Indie Rock
Codec: FLAC
Bit Rate: ~ 3,000 kbps
Bits Per Sample: 24
Sample Rate: 96,000 hz
Cover: Front

01 Caring is Creepy
02 One by One All Day
03 Weird Divide
04 Know Your Onion!
05 Girl Inform Me
06 New Slang
07 The Celibate Life
08 Girl on the Wing
09 Your Algebra
10 Pressed in a Book
11 The Past and Pending

The ShinsΓÇÖ first full-length is a definitive indie rock album of the 2000s not just because of its thoughtful, tuneful songs, but also because of the vivid portrait it painted of indie culture. After the high irony of Pavement and other ΓÇÿ90s standard bearers, indie rock began moving into more emotionally forthright territory. Oh, Inverted World is the sound of realizing thereΓÇÖs more to life than being a smart-aleck -- but also not being ready to open up completely. The albumΓÇÖs first song, ΓÇ£Caring Is Creepy,ΓÇ¥ sums up the typical indie response to emotional situations with its title alone, but it also introduces James Mercer's delicate, dryly witty take on that attitude. Hyper-literate lyrics like ΓÇ£ItΓÇÖs a luscious mix of words and tricksΓÇ¥ suggest someone whoΓÇÖs better with words than with feelings, yet MercerΓÇÖs high, wavering tones -- which are as awkward as they are beautiful -- prove otherwise.

Caring might be creepy, but itΓÇÖs hard to avoid; the rest of Oh, Inverted World chronicles this post-ironic vulnerability, wrapping it in jangly guitar pop that echoes the Kinks, Zombies, and Beach Boys. This may not be the most innovative sound, but it makes MercerΓÇÖs boy meets girl, boy runs away, boy comes back, girl runs away travails all the more familiar and relatable. And, of course, just how good the albumΓÇÖs songs are canΓÇÖt be overlooked. ΓÇ£Know Your OnionΓÇ¥ practically jumps out of its skin, bursting with British Invasion riffs and angst that goes way beyond adolescence; ΓÇ£New SlangΓÇ¥ tempers a yearning that curdles into bitterness with a beautiful melody and a ghostly falsetto coda.

More importantly, all of Oh, Inverted WorldΓÇÖs songs hang together in an immensely satisfying way. ΓÇ£Weird DivideΓÇ¥ is a backyard Pet Sounds: its winding melody channels that point in the summer when itΓÇÖs too hot to care much about anything, punctuating it with percussion that evokes incessant sprinklers. An airy feel runs through the album, from ΓÇ£Girl on the WingΓÇ¥ΓÇÖs bird imagery and pristine harmonies to ΓÇ£Girl Inform MeΓÇ¥ΓÇÖs giddiness to ΓÇ£One by One All DayΓÇ¥ΓÇÖs psychedelic coda. As things wind down, ΓÇ£Your AlgebraΓÇ¥ΓÇÖs spooky chamber pop and ΓÇ£The Past and the PendingΓÇ¥ΓÇÖs acoustic musing foreshadow the experiments the Shins undertook on later albums. Oh, Inverted World is so full of ideas and emotions, and so fully realized, that itΓÇÖs hard to believe itΓÇÖs just 33 minutes long. Whether or not the album lives up to the breathless ΓÇ£ItΓÇÖll change your life!ΓÇ¥ claims made about it in Garden State, the less ironic direction of 2000s indie begins here.