The Shins -Simple Song
The Shins return has been heralded on almost all of the usual websites, especially now that the video for their new single Simple Song has been released fronted by video of a dead James Mercer addressing his fictional family. The song itself is classic Shins, the lilting voice, the uplifting chorus melody with some exciting sounding scratchy guitar and great sounding cymbal crashes that are enhanced beautifully in the video.
The directors of this video are Daniels (two guys called Daniel surprisingly) who made one of the most memorable videos of 2011 in Simple Math by Manchester Orchestra and the escalator journey from hell with Gary Numan and Battles. You should check out their Tumblr, they are going to be much much bigger than they are very soon.
The video is so powerful that in some ways I think it overawes the song. The set up is wonderful, a search for the pot of gold that is the house deeds between siblings that have fallen out of love with each other and never really liked their father. I love the moments of discovery, when the sheets are pulled from the children’s furniture and we seem to see the shared memories flooding back. But then extinguished when the very adult pursuit of home ownership returns to their minds. The payoff at the end is fabulous too.
The Shins’ new album Port of Morrow will be released in a physical form on 20th March, yum-yum!
