The Shins polish up their pop for Port of Morrow

James Mercer is back with a new, heavyweight The Shins record.

Twelve years ago, at the dawn of the aughts, The Shins achieved a bunch of buzz on the back end of the "garage rock" craze -- a lo-fi sound that covered a whole slew of "the" bands from  The Von Bondies to The Libertines -- and an assist from the indie sweetheart film, Garden State. Natalie Portman and Zach Braff meet over a Shins song.

Now, Shins frontman and songwriter, James Mercer, is back with a new The Shins record, Port of Morrow, and a new The Shins band -- the original members departed after Mercer broke them up in 2009 or so. The result is a pretty enjoyable record with very strong pop sensibilities. It is at once far removed from the garage sound of the band's  Sub Pop debut, Oh, Inverted World, yet not far at all from band leader James Mercer's upbeat songwriting and trademark vocals.