A number of publications announced the Shins as the second coming of the Beach Boys, particularly after the Shins’ second release, Chutes Too Narrow (2003), and the sophisticated arrangement and production that went into the biggest and brightest track on that album, “Saint Simon.” James Mercer’s voice harmonized with itself and lilted into the ether unlike anything on their previous release, Oh, Inverted World.

On the Shins’ latest album, Wincing the Night Away, Mercer and crew take the musical elaboration a step further, enlisting Anita Robinson for backing vocals and harmonies on tracks like “Phantom Limb” and “Turn on Me.” But other than the vocals, is there really any fair reason to compare the Shins to the Beach Boys in their heyday?

The Music

Musically, if you had to measure the Shins’ oeuvre alongside Brian Wilson and Mike Love’s works, there’s really no comparison. The Beach Boys’ sound, and I’m talking mainly about their creative peak with Pet Sounds and the tracks that would become Brian Wilson’s Smile, are far more evolved.

The instrumentation used and the sophistication of the arrangements, especially vocally, with four-part harmonies and an all-out vocal symphony on Smile, is several steps way beyond the Shins’ sound to this point. On Pet Sounds there are tracks with carnival horns, big timpani drums, cowbells, kazoos, you name it. On “Good Vibrations” there’s even a theremin. The Shins haven’t come close to using this level of variety in their instrumentation, though Marty Crandall has done some pretty creative things on his synthesizer, and there are horns present—think of the French horn on “The Past and the Pending” on Inverted World and also on Wincing’s  “A Comet Appears.”

You could argue that the more psychedelic side of the Shins, tracks like “Your Algebra” and “Caring Is Creepy” off Oh, Inverted World and “Sleeping Lessons”, the first cut on Wincing the Night Away, are influenced by a Southern California ’60s sound that the Beach Boys brought about. All of these tracks feature echoing vocal effects that sound like they were recorded in the long hall of a monastery, much like the Beach Boys. Wilson often used this effect on tracks like “Caroline No”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, and even earlier cuts like “In My Room.”

The Lyrics

Lyrically, there are really no similarities at all between the two groups. The Beach Boys, whether in their early ’60s phase; or their later psychedelic experimentation; or even “Kokomo” from the ’80s, sing about cars and girls. More broadly, they sing romantic tunes… mostly about cars and girls. Even with a title like “Vega-Tables” on Smile, it’s still a romantic track—“I love you most of all. My favorite vega-table.”

Nearly every track on Pet Sounds is romantic—“I may not always love you, but long as there are stars above you…God only knows what I’d be without you.” The only songs on the original recording of that album that aren’t dealing with relationships are “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” and “Sloop John B”, a folk song.

The Shins are lyrically somewhere else entirely. Though there is a hint of romance (or loss of it), a lot of James Mercer’s songs have snarky lyrics about things that pissed him off or made him feel bad, but he sings them so pleasantly, or in such a roundabout manner, we sometimes don’t get the real meaning. On Oh, Inverted World, “Know Your Onion” is a good example of his discomfort, “Shut out, pimpled and angry, I quietly tied all my guts into knots.”

“Mine’s Not a High Horse” is a snarky title on Chutes, and then its lyrics: “these are the muddy waters I’m swimming in to make a living, were I to drown should come as no surprise” are very self-effacing, which Wilson has never been. Off their latest, “Turn on Me” is angry, with Mercer singing about enjoying mincing a rabbit, “brittle thorny stems,” and adults playing “the most ridiculous repulsive games.” But he sings it in such a way to make us want to root him on. The only thing remotely akin to Mercer’s level of snark by the Beach Boys is the Mike Love penned outtake of Pet Sounds’ “I Know There’s an Answer”, with the alternate lyrics and title, “Hang On To Your Ego.”

The Influences

What’s really similar about the Shins and the Beach Boys is each group’s own influences. Each group has two similar interests: country music and Phil Spector. Though the former for the Beach Boys is minimal.

James Mercer has said one of his favorite songwriters is old-time country maestro George Jones. You can hear this on tracks like “New Slang” and “Gone for Good.” The Beach Boys have only recruited from the country world, while not ever writing such an obvious country tune for themselves. It was the country-rock artist Glen Campbell who filled in for Brian Wilson when Brian wouldn’t tour anymore in 1964 and ‘65. Campbell also wound up playing guitar on Pet Sounds. Wilson penned the song “Guess I’m Dumb” for Campbell in 1965. You could also argue that any of Brian’s slower ballads (“God Only Knows” being a prime example) are just souped up, sad country songs. But that might be reaching a bit.

More important is the Spector influence. He and Brian Wilson were contemporaries, and Wilson admired him and considered him a creative rival. As for the Shins, listen to “Red Rabbits” on Wincing the Night Away, and you’ll find a strong hint of All Things Must Pass by George Harrison, produced by Spector in all his wall-of-sound glory.

One other intriguing cut from the Shins’ latest—the track “Turn on Me”, with its strong opening riff—sounds influenced by an earlier, driving Beach Boys’ sound (think “Help Me Rhonda”). But upon careful inspection, it’s actually more like the Phil Spector-produced track by the Crystals—“Then He Kissed Me.”

The Breakdown

So what’s the bottom line here? Are the Shins and the Beach Boys related at all? In short answer: Yes, musically. No, lyrically. They share some similar influences, and it’s obvious the Shins have been influenced by the Beach Boys in their vocals and on certain tracks. But to place the Shins as a band in the same vein as these SoCal icons is too far of a stretch at this point.

Watch: The Shins “New Slang” [at youtube.com]

Watch: The Beach Boys “In My Room” [at youtube.com]