The Shins is a musical group on Sub Pop records comprising of singer and guitarist James Russell Mercer, keyboardist/guitarist/ bassist Martin Crandall, bassist/guitarist Dave Hernandez, and drummer Jesse Sandoval. Their sound is commonly described as indie rock, drawing on several musical genres including pop (in the tradition of The Beach Boys), alternative, country, and folk.
The Shins began 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 (formed in 1992). By 1999, Flake (which by then had been renamed Flake Music) was disbanded and all of its former members became The Shins, excluding Dave Hernandez, former member of Scared of Chaka, who joined the group following the departure of Flake bassist Neal Langford. The band released two 7" singles on Omnibus, "Nature Bears A Vacuum" (1998) and "When I Goosestep" (2000), before going on tour with Modest Mouse. During the tour, they were met in San Francisco by a Sub Pop representative, who eventually offered to release their debut album.
The Shins' first album was 2001's Oh, Inverted World, released to critical acclaim for its lyrically deft, jangly pop sound. Chutes Too Narrow followed in 2003 to much fanfare in indie music circles, featuring even more multi-layered lyrical inventions and a musical approach that explored new genres, song structures, and levels of production fidelity.
The next album from The Shins, tentatively titled Sleeping Lessons, is planned to be released in July or August of 2006. The band has been working on the new material for some time now, and hopes to live up to the expectations set by the movie Garden State's use of "New Slang" and "Caring Is Creepy" both in the film and on the soundtrack.