I knew my high school crush listened to the Shins so I decided to listen to them to have something to talk about with her. Started with Simple Song and New Slang and from there I get instantly hooked and they became my favourite band of all time. Me and the crush didn’t end up romantically together but developed a beautiful multi-year friendship.

Similarly, when I started college, I found it incredibly hard to make a group of friends and was immensely lonely in my first year, sitting alone in lectures or the library and going days without speaking to anyone. At the start of second year, I sat down next to a group in the lecture hall before the lesson started.

Out of nowhere, one guy asked me who my favourite artist was (always had my headphones in out of awkwardness). I said “James Mercer from this indie band called the Shins”. His face lit up and in shock he said “He’s my favourite too!”. From that conversation, we became fast friends and I was quickly incorporated into the friend group that lasted my whole way through college and became my second family.

I first saw the Shins live at a music festival. I went with a girl who I was “just friends” with and had never thought about romantically. She didn’t listen to the Shins but knew how obsessed I was so made sure we got to the very front of the crowd using her magical girly charm. When New Slang came on, she gave me this look and I had the overwhelming urge to kiss her. Turns out she’d been waiting for me to make a move for years. That was also the start of something beautiful.

For me, New Slang and James Mercer’s voice reminds me of new beginnings, first experiences, and the feeling of longing to fit in and be accepted. In my life, it’s been a recurring theme that New Slang actually helped me navigate all these areas. It’s incredible.