I’ve never been one for finding new music on my own; I’ve generally relied on my friends to lead me in the right direction. Recently, my kids are getting me to play music on a daily basis and it’s been a lot of fun. My wife and I, who rarely listened to music, have started to put the stereo on pretty regularly and have started looking for music for the kids and for us. (My wife and son are in the living room now listening to a couple of Ray Charles CDs.)

One new artist that we’ve latched on to is The Shins. While watching Garden State we particularly liked the music that Sam, played by Natalie Portman, introduced to Andrew, played by Zach Braff. Garden State is a great movie, by the way, and I can’t wait to see Braff’s future creations.

The soundtrack for Garden State had two songs from The Shins’ first album, 2001’s Oh, Inverted World. After I found out that the album was on the SUB POP label, which just happens not to be part of RIAA, I decided to buy it and The Shin’s 2003 album Chutes Too Narrow. I was not disappointed.

I’m very fond of two songs from the first album, “Caring Is Creepy” and “New Slang”, which also happen to be the two tracks on Garden State’s soundtrack. And, I must mention that my one-year-old daughter and two-year-old son love to dance to both of them. The second album, Chutes Too Narrow has become my favorite and I’ve listened to it constantly in the car since buying it. “Kissing The Lipless” gets the album off to a great start. “Mine’s Not A High Horse” follows with these poignant lyrics:

After that confrontation
You left me wringing my cold hands
We shared some information
We might not recover from
And I watch your convictions
Melt like ice cubes in an ocean
You were so poorly cast as a malcontent

“Saint Simon”, later on in the album in the number five spot, has become my favorite song on the album. It combines both a great sound and meaningful lyrics. Overall, I think I’m drawn to this album over the earlier one primarily because each song has its own personality, and these various personalities give the album much to offer. Does that make sense?

I’ve never actually reviewed music before, so I don’t know if I got everything across to you. Bottom line, I like both albums and would recommend both of them. If you can only buy one, get Chutes Too Narrow.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 17th, 2005 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.