The album’s set for a 2017 release before you get too excited. Pitchfork peppily reports: “The Shins are getting in the Halloween spirit. This morning (Oct. 26), the James Mercer-led band dropped a music video for a new song called “Dead Alive,” featuring the rickety production quality and campy macabre of an old horror B-movie. The Shins teased the video on Instagram yesterday and today we’ve got the whole thing, along with a message about the new music the group’s brewing: “James Mercer wanted to give you all a Halloween gift while you wait for the album.” Below, watch Mercer struggle to realize if he’s shrunk or if the world’s gotten bigger.
Back in August, Mercer announced the Shins’ fifth studio album had been completed, and that he was hoping for a Jan. 2017 release. He also noted that the new, self-produced music sounded more in common with the Shins’ early work than their spiffy, Greg Kurstin-assisted 2012 LP Port of Morrow. “Dead Alive” wouldn’t sound out of place on 2001’s Oh, Inverted World, so fans of Garden State-era Shins have reason to be cautiously optimistic.”
