Heartworms by The Shins

Heartworms, the Shins' fifth studio album, arrived on Columbia on March 10, 2017, five years after Port of Morrow, and by now the band name is basically a flag for James Mercer, the only member who has been there from the start. He produced it himself, apart from "So Now What", which he handed to former bandmate Richard Swift, with Yuuki Matthews on bass and keyboards.

The self-reliance suits these songs. They're fussy in the best way, stuffed with odd little detours and swerving melodies, but always built around Mercer's bright, bruised choirboy voice. "Name for You" is about as sunny as indie pop gets, "Dead Alive" wanders into dimmer light, and the whole thing feels like a songwriter tinkering happily on his own. Even the sleeve has a pedigree: it's based on the Japanese ukiyo-e triptych Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.