Songs With a Sneaky Streak (Published 2007)

From a distance the scene on Tuesday night probably looked pretty normal: a popular indie-rock band onstage at Terminal 5, the cavernous new club (in a previous incarnation it was Club Exit); cheering fans crowding the three levels, craning to see.

But at this Shins concert there was nothing, really, to see: just a bunch of guys concentrating on their instruments, barely moving. Banter was in mercifully short supply (Shins shows were once infamous for having way too much), there were no exhortations to sing along, there was hardly anything you could dance to. So why did everyone look so happy?

It must have been the songs. Over the course of three albums James Mercer, the head Shin, has established himself as one of indie rock’s best songwriters, delivering wry lyrics that are inevitably outshone by his melodies, which are gently infectious and immediately recognizable. He likes minor keys and mellow digressions; instead of churning round and round (here comes that chorus again!), his songs often seem to be drifting away.

“New Slang” was the band’s breakthrough hit; it’s the one that was supposed to change Zach Braff’s life in the film “Garden State.” But the chorus is de-emphasized (the title comes from the second verse), and the best-known part is probably the wordless melody at the beginning and end. Maybe that’s why no one seems to be sick of it years later; it’s hard to get sick of a sigh.

This year the Shins released their third album, “Wincing the Night Away” (Sub Pop), which might be the most cunning Shins album yet. The lyrics are full of whimsy and stubbornness; one song mentions “odd convictions,” which seems about right. Some fans may have mistaken the album’s floatiness for aimlessness, but Mr. Mercer’s songs have never been sneakier, or prettier.

So what does a live show add? Not all that much. When the Shins really act like a rock band — when they play fast and loud, or when they add a shift in momentum — the results can be underwhelming. The concert began with “Sleeping Lessons,” the new album’s glimmering first song, and it sounded better when it was just Mr. Mercer and his guitar, before his band members arrived to add fuzz and a galloping rhythm. And the last song of the encore, “So Says I,” from the second Shins album, “Chutes Too Narrow,” seemed like a lark: a good-natured visit to a strange place where people jump and whoop and clap along. (The first song of the encore was a different kind of lark: a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe.”)

Mainly, though, the concert was an opportunity to gawk at Mr. Mercer, an unassuming guy who seems to sing (almost) nothing that isn’t lovely. “Sea Legs,” from the most recent CD, had a lilting drum-machine beat and some unusually fervent lyrics. (When he sang, “Of all the intersecting lines in the sand/I routed a labyrinth to your lap,” he still seemed to be raising an eyebrow.) Near the end of “Girl Sailor” he tugged on the reins, slowing down the band’s momentum with a glance at the drummer. And when he started into the brief guitar solo that comes near the end of “Mine’s Not a High Horse,” people cheered once again. Not because they were impressed with his playing, but because they knew the tune, and liked it.