New From The Shins::The Rifle's Spiral , Live @ Hollywood Palladium, 05.10.09

After spending the first week and a half of May touring the West Coast, The Shins now head east for the second leg of their Spring Tour which kicks off tomorrow at The National in Richmond, VA. Joining The Shins will be special guests Delta Spirit. Doors at 8pm. Tickets for tomorrow night's show are still available. $30.00 [ticket info]

Touring with a new line-up that now includes The Fruit Bats' Ron Lewis on drums and Modest Mouse's Joe Plummer on keys (after both Marty Crandall and Jesse Sandoval recently left the band), The Shins have eight upcoming East Coast stops over the next nine days. [remaining tour dates below].

The Shins should soon begin work soon on their follow-up album to 2007's Wincing the Night Away and as frontman James Mercer recently told Rolling Stone, there are currently some thirty songs at the ready to chose for the new record. Current speculation is that the album should be ready sometime in early 2010 and as I reported back in March, the new album is set to be released on Mercer's own Aural Apothecary label (this following the band's departure from Sub Pop Records).

On this current West Coast / East Coast tour, two new songs have been popping up in The Shins' nightly set lists and performances of both have made their way onto YouTube. You can check out the video for "Double Bubble" HERE and I've included the second new song "The Rifle's Spiral" above. You can expect to see both tomorrow night at The National. I've also included "Australia" from Wincing the Night Away below as a listening track.

MP3: The Shins--Australia
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Amazon: The Shins--Wincing The Night Away


The Shins Announced 2009 Tour Dates

05.13 - The National, Richmond, VA
05.14 - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.
05.15 - Ram's Head, Baltimore, MD
05.16 - Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
05.17 - Wellmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ
05.18 - Terminal 5, NYC
05.20 - Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA
05.21 - Terminal 5, NYC