Having read Zak’s review of this album in which he compares it to a smoking hot Swedish girl, I listened to this album half-expecting it to sound like Roxette, perhaps performing their never-released album of Strokes covers. Do I have a tendency to interpret metaphors literally? Maybe. *insert shifty eyes here*

Anyway, it doesn’t sound like that at all, but it does give me a chance to talk about the difference between a very good album and a great album, which is pretty much why — aside from the fact that I promised Joie that I would — I’m writing a review of an album that’s already received a review on this site. Make no mistake, Wincing the Night Away is a very good album, the kind that might show up on 2007’s year-end list, depending on how stiff the competition is. It is not, however, a great album.

Listening to the album for the first time, I was struck by how strongly I felt like I had heard every song somewhere before. This is not a compliment. “Australia?” That one sounds kind of like an old Smiths B-side, probably from when they were going through their weird Meat Is Murder phase. “Black Wave?” I think that was one that Radiohead got about halfway through writing before they decided they already had better songs for OK Computer. “Sea Legs” and “Turn on Me” could have shown up on any late-90s Britpop album without raising any eyebrows — I’m thinking Blur and Oasis, respectively, are the best fits. “Pam Berry?” Okay, that one doesn’t sound like anything. They can have that one, all 56 seconds of it.

Now, these are pretty solid touchstones, and The Shins execute each one about as well as anyone could have hoped for — the songwriting is well above average. That’s very good. It’s enough to make them pleasant, even a joy to listen to. If I didn’t already have an advance copy of this thing, it would probably be enough to make me buy it. But it’s difficult to be truly, greatly memorable when you remind your listeners of other people instead of yourself, even when those other people are tremendously talented musicians. I listen to this album and thing, “Wow, The Shins really do this kind of thing well.” I don’t listen to it and think, “Wow, The Shins, they’re really full of ideas, and they’ve got a lot to say.”

Now, every album doesn’t need to change the world. (For that matter, every album can’t change the world. Superlatives lose their meaning if they’re applied to everything.) I recommend that you listen to it, buy it, share it with your friends. But I can’t help feeling faintly disappointed, because I think The Shins have it in them to be great — but instead, they’re just very good.

Release date: Jan. 23, 2007
Rating: 8/10. Very good, but not great.

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