jesse james singer
Lead singer and guitarist James Mercer began working with Plummer about a year ago, in what "intended to be a side project," but on the basis of the work they did together, Mercer made the decision to shuffle the band's lineup. Lewis was brought in three weeks ago to learn the band's current tour set, and both new members will participate in recording the follow-up to 2007's "Wincing the Night Away."
Mercer says he has written 30 songs since the last album, but the band is playing only two of them live: "Double Bubble" and "The Rifle's Spiral." Both songs were written by Mercer and then fleshed out by his new band mates, who added the drums, bass lines and keyboard parts.
"The last record was another attempt to change and find something interesting and new for us to experiment with," Mercer says. "(The new album) is forming in my mind and how I want it to feel. There seems to be less dwelling on lack of confidence about things and more affirmative feelings in the songs."
In past work, Mercer's lyrics have reflected a witty, cerebral and almost cryptic approach, a quality that helped gain the Shins' notoriety in its early years. This time around, Mercer sees his writing moving in a direction that addresses uncertainty and how people grapple with it.
This 20-year-old Georgia native never knew there was supposed to be a difference; her boots-and-beats debut is equal parts Carrie Underwood and Christina Aguilera. Jessie James falters on a handful of snoozy power ballads but plays one heck of a small-town sex kitten on up-tempo numbers like ''Blue Jeans,'' where she claims her tight pants get her into the club for free, and ''My Cowboy,'' a sly country-rap jam co-written by Jamey Johnson and produced by John Rich.
