“Five years after the moody Wincing the Night Away and two releases by his Broken Bells project, James Mercer returns to the Shins energized and with his songwriting prowess intact.”
“The Shins’ 2004 microhit "New Slang" established one of the more pliant templates in 2000s pop – Feist, Bon Iver and Mumford & Sons all owe something to its frumpy intimacy and strummy, mumbled moodiness. But James Mercer has been stretching for something grander ever since; 2007’s Wincing the Night Away was almost prog-rock in […]”
“On the Shins' fourth album, the band bring some newer, bigger production to the table. However, the band doesn't exactly present the energy or personality to make these ambitious sounds exciting.”
