Shins Frontman James Mercer Scores Indie Film

"You gotta listen to this one song," Natalie Portman says to a somber Zach Braff. "It'll change your life." No, she's not talking about "Mosh", fools. The Shins verily hit the big-time with 2003's Chutes Too Narrow and this subsequent Garden State shout-out, charming fickle bloggers, big-shot critics, and smiley starlets alike. So let the deluge of side projects and indie film soundtracks begin-- starting with one of the latter, please! Head Shin James Mercer recently spoke to Billboard about his soundtrack for Towlines, Portland filmmaker Matt McCormick's 22-minute documentary about... tugboats.

Stay with us, people. "Towlines is an experimental documentary that explores the visual characteristics of the maritime industry and pays homage to these great workhorses," notes the flick's site at RodeoFilmCo.com. "Borrowing the tone of a children's book, Towlines combines historical information with creative cinematography and sound design to plead the case that the tugboat is a heroic yet tragic figure deserving of careful recognition."

It's about time someone offered this careful recognition, and Mercer is a fine choice to accompany it, with a score that "goes from sweet, little acoustic picking things to strange, atmospheric keyboard stuff," he explains. "But melodic. I can't avoid that, it seems."

McCormick apparently enjoys a cuddly relationship with Sub Pop superstars-- The Postal Service, still flush from its ludicrous/delightful cross-promotional coup with the real Postal Service, has also scored one of his films: American Nutria, concerning a "large, odd looking rodent from Argentina" evidently hellbent on chewing through North America. In fact, Mercer fantasized to Billboard about packing both his and The Postal Service's soundtracks together as a Sub Pop release. Uh, don't rush to pre-order that just yet. Rather, enjoy the waning days of this phase of Shins ubiquity: Jimmy Kimmel's show tonight, All Tomorrow's Parties in Long Beach this very Sunday, and a brief Japan/Australia jaunt in early '05.

Naturally, a proper follow-up to Chutes is still a ways off, though hopefully not too significant a ways. "It will be within a year as far as getting back into the studio," Mercer claims. "Probably a year from now it would be good to have the third record come out, and maybe sooner if I get some more downtime." But first-- the tugboat must be canonized!

Both Towlines and American Nutria are available on McCormick's recently released DVD, From Tugboats to Polar Bears. Not that you necessarily have to buy it-- McCormick will be finishing up a university-oriented film tour in the coming weeks, during which the majority of the DVD will be presented. The remaining dates for that:

11-05 Chicago, IL - Chicago Art Institute (students only)
11-06 Evanston, IL - Northwestern University
11-07 Milwaukee, WI - Bamboo Theatre
11-08 Milwaukee, WI - University of Wisconsin (students only)
11-11 Madison, WI - University of Wisconsin
11-13 Iowa City, IA - University of Iowa
11-16 Bozeman, Montana - University of Montana

And finally, those aforementioned Shins performances:

11-07 Long Beach, CA - All Tomorrow's Parties
01-30 Osaka, Japan - Club Quattro
01-31 Tokyo, Japan - Astro Hall
02-04 Brisbane, Australia - Arena
02-06 Sydney, Australia - Metro
02-09 Melbourne, Australia - Corner Hotel
02-10 Melbourne, Australia - Corner Hotel
02-11 Adelaide, Australia - Fowlers Live
02-12 Perth, Australia - Perth Festival

.: The Shins: