Not so long ago, The Shins were epitome of indie band. Practically anyone who was obsessed with exploring indie niche could not help themselves but to fall in love with them. They are one of those bands that fetched the momentum and kept swinging on it for quite some time. In career that has been going on for more than two decades, The Shins have released five full length studio albums, but they earned the trust of the public with first two records - Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow. Ergo, in the initial phase of their career, they have raised the bar so high that their other three albums were close to it, but they never surpassed the quality of debut and sophomore. The Shins never experimented with their sound, even though the only original member left is James Mercer. After the band broke up in 2008, Mercer became one of a kind one man band. In 2012, with new members, he dropped album Port of Morrow. Five years later, Mercer returns with Heartworms.
First time after the debut, Mercer is completely standing behind the material, from song composition to the process of album's production. Heartworms stands as corpus delicti that Mercer did not lose on creativity and sophisticated taste for beautiful melodies. The album unfolds with Name For You, Mercer's dedication to his three daughters that has all of the essential The Shins ingredients - perfect harmonies accompanied with Mercer's characteristic vocal. There are no outliers among other songs. They are pretty much in line with what you would expect from The Shins. The only thing that differs from song to song is mild diversity of genres, although all the instrumentals are placed into recognizable algorithms. Mildenhall is essentially a country tune, while Painting a Whole relies on psych-rock elements. Too bad the summer is over on this hemisphere, because Fantasy Island is perfect song for summer nights chillouts.
Even though Mercer and The Shins have reduced their quality since the first two records, they were never too far from the standard. Heartworms is an evidence that those two albums were not a coincidence, and also a bright hope that we can expect more good music in the future.
