The Shins Catch Heartworms

Lots has happened since The Shins last visited an album upon us: the reissuance of the first Flake Music LP; the second Broken Bells effort; and more of ringleader James Mercer’s contributions to television and film soundtracks. Thankfully for us, he’s found time to focus his attention on creating another batch of the uniquely oblique pop tones that we’ve come to love him for.

Out March 10th, Heartworms marks The Shins fifth full-length recording, their first since 2012’s Port of Morrow. Mercer handled production duties for all tracks save for “So Now What,” which was helmed by ex-bandmate Richard Swift. The band recently appeared on A Prairie Home Companion alongside Regina Spektor; if you overslept on its original airdate, their performance is archived on prairiehome.org. They’re also scheduled to play Shaky Knees in May.

Photo by Nikki Fenix.