THE SHINS
Know Your Onion! (Sub Pop)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

---

Know Your Onion!, the latest release from SubPop artist The Shins, is a short, eerie reminder of why this New Mexico based band is one of the most infectious pop acts currently working the underground. Armed with a tenacious, emotional sound tending towards Eric Burdon and The Animals, The Shins, an off shoot of Flake Music and Somersault, have proven themselves to be deft molders of uncommonly visceral pop songs.

The CD-EP Know Your Onion consists of just four songs, two of which appear on last year's Oh, Inverted World. The title song is a fun and raucous tune, filled with lucid imagery, while "My Seventh Rib" is fractured and sparse pop/punk. The real gems, however, are the last two tracks. "New Slang (Live)" is even more haunting and sad than is the album version. When lead singer James Mercer's voice cracks over the heart rending line "And if you'd a took to me like/well I'd a danced like the queen of the eyesores/and the rest of our lives would'a fared well," it is confessional lyricism at its finest. "Sphagnum Esplanade," the album's coda and B-side to the "New Slang" single, might be the band's most unforgettable song. Remnant of the psychedelic styling of Syd Barrett, this track represents a true departure from where Oh, Inverted World went, and is a teaser for where The Shins are hopefully going.

© 2002 - Erick Mertz