New Slang (Live) - The Shins
On the one hand, I feel bad for The Shins. This is far and away their best song, sweet without being saccharine, heartfelt and wonderfully melodic.
Which has to suck for them. This came off their first album, and nothing they’ve done since has hit this high again.
I’m often coming back to that idea, the “can this be topped” idea, the pressure an artist has to improve upon past work, to continually do better. Is it enough to have created something awesome, and rest on the laurels of that creation for the rest of a career? Is it worth the torment to continually try to one up oneself? Do The Shins compare each successive album to their first? Each new song to this one? Do they even like this song as much as others do? Does it bother them that this is the song singled out?
On the other hand, they made this song. And we didn’t. So they win.
And, well, we win too, because we get to hear it.
