E-Mail This Article to a Friend Shooting stars The Shins head up from the underground BY MONIQUE LAVIE

If the Shins are indeed the latest big thing to emerge from the indie-rock underground since Belle & Sebastian and Elliott Smith, no one is more surprised than the band themselves. But the signs of breakthrough are there for this quartet from Portland, Oregon. Their latest release, Chutes Too Narrow (Sub Pop), debuted at #6 on Billboard’s independent-albums chart. They’ve already licensed several of their songs for Gap and McDonald’s commercials, and they’ve hosted MTV2’s Subterranean and done the rounds on late-night network TV. But they still feel stardom is unlikely; singer/guitarist James Mercer says, "I personally don’t think it could possibly ever happen."

The Shins — Mercer, keyboardist Marty Crandall, bassist Dave Hernandez, and drummer Jesse Sandoval — had just played their second performance (at New York’s Union Square Virgin Megastore) in a whirlwind week at the CMJ Music Marathon last fall when I joined them for dinner at an Indian restaurant near their hotel in Gramercy Park. Crandall was disappointed. "Out of all the Indian restaurants in this city, we had to pick the one that was vegetarian! I want meat — I want street meat!" Meat cravings aside, the band seemed unaffected by their grueling four-day CMJ schedule, though Mercer exhibited fingers freshly wounded while packing up equipment. An Australian tour was to begin in December, and then they were due back in the States in early 2004 (they come to the Roxy next Friday).

Back in Albuquerque circa 1993, Mercer, Sandoval, and Crandall were in a band called Flake. Several years later, Mercer began writing songs for a new project that would eventually become the Shins. They recorded a four-song EP; in 2000, they signed with Sub Pop.

Perhaps it was the permanent addition of Hernandez on bass that helped propel the band to indie stardom, but the Shins’ sound certainly played a part. Mercer’s vocals — at times reminiscent of Brian Wilson’s in the band’s high harmonies — combined with a vintage British rock sound and poignant lyrics. On "Mine’s Not a High Horse," the second track from Chutes Too Narrow, the band weave vocal harmonies with delicate melodies. Crandall plays a simple, climbing scale that accompanies Mercer’s tender vocals: "You’ve got them all on your side/That just makes more for doubt to slaughter/ . . . ‘Don’t ask for his opinion/They ought to drown him in holy water’/Will you remember my reply when your high horse dies?"

The first single, "So Says I," a waggish song that confronts tyranny ("We’ve got rules and maps and guns in our backs/But we still can’t behave ourselves even if to save our own lives/So, says I, WE ARE A BRUTAL KIND"), adheres to the retro pop sound that can be found on the Shins’ 2001 album, Oh, Inverted World (Sub Pop). But as opposed to the uniform electric-guitar ambiance of the last album, each song on Chutes is distinctly different. If the album at times recalls the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and other touchstones of the British Invasion, so be it.

"I think some of the best music is people reinventing what has already been done," says Crandall. "I think the whole ’60s psychedelic thing is coming back. A lot of people are doing the whole Nuggets box-set thing, but I don’t think we made a conscious effort to do that at all."

"Well, we do in a way," interjects Mercer. "There is that influence there, but for us it’s not a gimmicky kind of thing. It’s the kind of music we really like, and you can’t help but sound like the stuff you love." They concede a love for David Bowie, the Zombies, and the Beatles. "Of course we love the Beatles," Mercer says. "Everybody loves the Beatles — everybody who is smart."

While recording Chutes, they departed from their usual process, writing arrangements around acoustic guitars rather than the reverb of an electric. On "Gone for Good," there’s even a tinge of country in the pedal steel guitar. The opening "Kissing the Lipless" goes from handclaps to an explosive falsetto; a violin enhances the spacy lullaby "Saint Simon." But in addition to versatility, this album offers clarity. Crandall credits the studio — it’s a new concept for a band who usually favor Mercer’s home-recording equipment.

Still, they chortle at the thought of becoming the next big thing. Mercer says, "I always envisioned us being Built To Spill big — where we’ll sell out big venues but still have an underground fan base. But we’ll never get as big as Nirvana." He pauses and adds facetiously, "Maybe R.E.M. big."

The Shins play the Roxy, 279 Tremont Street in the Theater District, next Friday, February 13; call (617) 931-2000.