Port of Morrow

Port of Morrow is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band The Shins, released on March 20, 2012 on Aural Apothecary and Columbia Records. Co-produced by Greg Kurstin and frontman James Mercer, it is the band's first studio album in five years, following the release of 2007's Wincing the Night Away, and their first since the departure of founding members Dave Hernandez (bass, guitar), Marty Crandall (keyboards) and Jesse Sandoval (drums). Primarily a collaboration between Mercer and Kurstin, the album features contributions from former members, Dave Hernandez, Marty Crandall, Eric D. Johnson and Ron Lewis, alongside current drummer Joe Plummer, and other studio contributors including Janet Weiss and Nik Freitas. The album has a more slick and polished sound than the band's previous efforts, with a much greater emphasis on electronic instrumentation while still retaining elements of the melodic indie pop style the band originally made their name with. An animated 3-D music video for the opening track, The Rifle's Spiral, was released on the Nintendo 3DS video channel. The stop motion video was directed by Jamie Caliri.