The Shins

The Shins is an American indie band consisting of singer and guitarist James Mercer, keyboardist/guitarist/bassist Martin Crandall, bassist/guitarist Dave Hernandez, drummer Jesse Sandoval, and, as of 2007, keyboardist/singer Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats. They formed in 1997, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a side project of Mercer (previously of Blue Roof Dinner) and Sandoval, who were both members of the lo-fi musical group Flake Music (formed as Flake 1992). The band was signed to Sub Pop following a successful tour in 2000 with fellow college-rockers Modest Mouse.

Their 2001 debut album, Oh, Inverted World received near-universal critical acclaim, causing many critics to predict a mass wave of The Beach Boys-inspired bands. That wave never truly came, but the Shins enjoyed a rapidly expanding fanbase, and even saw their music featured on a McDonalds advertisement. That may have been artistic suicide for them, had it not been that the song featured ("New Slang"), includ...