The Shins announce Splendour sideshows

04.23.12-The-Shins

The Shins – July 2012 Australian Tour with special guests HUSKY
Handsome Tours are Very Excited to announce the welcome return of their old friends The Shins to Australia this July. Armed with new material from their acclaimed fourth album Port Of Morrow, the band will perform at Splendour In The Grass, plus headline shows at Festival Hall in Melbourne and the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney.

It’s been a busy start to the year for the Portland based five piece, with the band currently in the midst of an extensive US tour to celebrate the release of Port Of Morrow. The album has been five years in the making, following on from their 2007 LP Wincing The Night Away, and was recorded throughout 2011 with band leader James Mercer handling all songwriting duties, lead vocals and the majority of instrumentation.

The Shins formed in 1996, when Mercer began writing what would eventually become the bands first record. Their first single ‘Nature Bears A Vacuum’ was released with no expectations, however it generated enough attention that at a performance supporting Modest Mouse in 2000, Sub Pop’s Jonathan Poneman asked the band to contribute to the label’s ‘Single of the Month Club’. This relationship eventually extended to Sub Pop releasing the bands 2001 single ‘New Slang’, and their debut album Oh, Inverted World. It received critical acclaim for its lyrically deft and jangly pop sound, with several songs featuring prominently on the soundtrack for the 2004 film Garden State, exposing the music of The Shins to a much wider audience. 

Their sophomore record Chutes Too Narrow was released in the fall of 2003 to much fanfare in indie music circles, exploring new genres, song structures, and levels of production fidelity. The band’s third album, Wincing the Night Away, was recorded during 2006 by a largely solo Mercer. It debuted at number 2 in the US, the highest chart position Sub Pop has ever achieved. Port of Morrow was released in March 2012, having so far stemmed the singles ‘Simple Song’ and ‘The Rifle’s Spiral’.

This tour will mark The Shins’ fifth visit to our shores since 2003. In fact, the band are so fond of Australia they named one of their pop gems after our fine country! Very special guests for both the Melbourne and Sydney shows will be the warm, harmony soaked sounds of Melbourne quartetHusky.

Port of Morrow doesn’t sound like it belongs to any particular decade or style, instead hopping around like some fully loaded AM radio dial that cranks out gem after gem.” Pitchfork




The Shins Australian tour – July 2012
With special guests Husky

Presented by Triple J and FasterLouder
Tickets on sale 11.00am AEST Monday the 30th of April.

Monday 23 July – Festival Hall – Melbourne
Tickets: Ticketmaster 136 100 and www.ticketmaster.com.au or Festival Hall Box Office, 288 Rosslyn St, West Melbourne

Wednesday 25 July – Hordern Pavilion – Sydney
Tickets: Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

The Shins will also perform at Splendour In The Grass, details at www.splendourinthegrass.com 

Port Of Morrow is out now through Sony