'I needed to have some new mode before I was prepared to start it up again.' 'I think I needed to shake up my surroundings in order to get back to a state of mind where I was enthusiastic about recording, and fleshing out these songs that I had developing,' Mercer says of changing The Shins' lineup. Port of Morrow, the group's new album and its first in five years, finds Mercer leading a completely new set of musicians. James Mercer's distinctive voice and earnest songwriting have always been at the heart of The Shins, but these days they are the band's only constant.
