Lost at Sea
Last August, as the Midwestern heat turned to a sticky, super-humidified mess that I could hardly take, the Shins delivered me the perfect late-summer soundtrack for the four o'clock bong hit, a powder-blue clad compendium mesmerizing with light, wispy guitar tones and overtly pop music that is both traditional and avante at the same instance. This year, they do it again, with the re-release of When You Land Here, It's Time to Return, the lone full-length album the four Albuquerq-sters released under their former name, Flake Music. Like last year's Oh Inverted World, this album contains eight tracks of respectable, somewhat literary lyrics delivered in varying pitch that always blends with or compliments the guitar tone. What Flake Music's album is about is essentially summed up by James Mercer's introductory lyrical observation in the opening track "Spanway Hits"; "use a pen to reflect what you've got left to protect on the old dusty shelves in your childhood room." In honesty what When You Land Here, It's Time to Return represents isn't exactly positive, when taking into consideration the hindsight that 2002 provides, considering it's now five years since it's initial release and there isn't a heck of a lot of obvious stylistic growth between the Flake Music past and the current Shins sound. Perhaps this fact gives a little more weight to what I wrote in my review of the Shins' debut last fall - "If Oh Inverted World had come out on a smaller indie I'm positive it would have been bashed like only Wolfie can imagine, but since it bears the Sub Pop hipster seal, it has gone out largely unscathed." When it comes down to it however, Flake Music provide a welcome accompaniment to Oh Inverted World (an album that one can't help but end up liking despite all of its shortcomings), and When You Land Here, It's Time to Return is an acceptable stop-gap measure in tiding us over until the next Shins album, which will hopefully be a bit more evolved. For now, if you're Jonesin' for some more Shins or even a fresh dose of that Beachwood Sparks/ Beach Boys/ Olivia Tremor Control sound, this will serve you nicely.
Eric J Herboth

ALIVE & KICKING - July 1999 "The latest release from Davis' Omnibus Records is a sugary pop delight that marries the geek love of Weezer with the nerdy self-loathing of Built To Spill. The CD's opening song "Spanway Hits" sets the tone with a whimsical generational musings: "Use a pen to reflect what you've got left to protect on the old dusty shelves in your childhood room/ you've got a lot to go on: posters of Simon LeBon." With swirling, slightly distorted guitars, a wave of indie heartbreak percussive beats and sly lyrics, this eight song disc is a stimulating brain tease." Rachel Leibrock

Santa Barbara Independent - October 7-13 issue: Everything that's good about indie-rock and little of what isn't. The songs on this record give you catchy college-rock minus the superciliousness ("Spanway Hits"), kinetic emo minus the overstatement ("Deluca"), and retro-pop minus the photocopier ("The Shins"), all tied lovingly together. Delicate filaments of bass and rhythm guitar harmonically interweave, forming a web that's handy at catching angry-sounding guitar-insects. The vocals are down-to-earth and direct, yet they soar whenever the lyrics request it. Each song is melodically winsome and structurally inventive. Unfortunately, with its pillow-stuft drums and treble cranked back 10 dbs, this disc (on Omnibus Records) snaps firmly into the "low-fi" column. And I'd like the music even better with fewer retro cues...but then I hate the Beatles, so I might not have much company there. Highly recommended. Dennis Tivey

Flipside - "Hey, what a surprise, I like this - the chords are ethereal and the songs are winsome - they build and rest on melody - this is pretty good. It reminds me of sitting on the porch in Cleveland with a full bong and a Dr. Pepper. Nice record. I'm gonna play it again." Stone Cold Steve Austin

Also check out this Konketsu review.

ZUM - "This is one of those CDs I could put on repeat indefinitely - totally catchy songs that you have to savor, because before you know it, the album's over. These young lads from Albuquerque seem to have come out of left field with this great release. Fuzzy, warm, lyrically intelligent. "Spanway Hits" starts things off talking about cultural artifacts that are the common things we share (e.g. "posters of Simon Le Bon"). The singer sometimes sounds like Robert Smith; at other times he hits this falsetto high, and it's all completely charming. The music's not unfamiliar, but there's a freshness to the delivery - you can't help but like it." yc

Shredding Paper - "This one's been out a while, so I missed the boat, cause this is excellent. A bunch of hook filled wimpy indiepop with a guy singer with a high voice. Some regular guitar jangle, some acoustic, some strong bass lines; it adds up to some really memorable tunes." mel

Songs:
spanway hits
blast valve
roziere
structo
deluca
mieke
the shins
vantage
+extra hidden tracks

This is OMNI016
available formats [CD][LP] ORDERING INFO