I’ve always wanted to write a review of one of the most beautiful R.E.M. albums, like Out of Time, Automatic for the People or Lifes Rich Pageant, but I know that the band has changed and will probably never release something of such uplifting, life-changing, regal beauty again. Thank God for The Shins, a relatively unknown Oklahoma band which has made it possible for me to review an album very similar to those I mentioned. They have accepted the torch that R.E.M. passed when they released 1994’s glam-inspired Monster. After releasing a promising 1960s-inspired debut album Oh, Inverted World in 2001 (the obvious standout track was its only folk song, “New Slang”), the band is back in 2003 with Chutes Too Narrow, which is better with every listen and is surely one of the best albums of the year.

Chutes Too Narrow begins with the song “Kissing the Lipless,” which shows that lyrically The Shins have not strayed far from the cryptic Pavement-like absurdities of Oh, Inverted World. However, the song’s lyrics convey with excellent skill the meaning within, which in this case is lost friendship/love. A pretty beginning dives headfirst into a jubilant power chorus, with the lyrics, “You told us of your new life there/ you got someone comin’ around/ gluing tinsel to your crown.” “Kissing the Lipless” is an amazing rush of energy and a perfect album opener (much like “Begin the Begin” on Lifes Rich Pageant).

The next song is “Mine’s Not a High Horse,” which sounds like a track right off of Out of Time (as many of these songs do). Thick guitar sounds bolster James Mercer’s sensitive, Ray Davies vocals, but as with the rest of Chutes Too Narrow, the strings are what you wait for. They are the element that makes this album, playing the same central role they played on Out of Time and Automatic for the People. There is a bit of “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” in “Mine’s Not a High Horse,” as the strings swirl and fall gracefully around the words.

“So Says I” is another upbeat number, and probably the most 1960s-inspired song on the album. It sounds, with its diplomatic guitar solos, like the theme from a trashy British secret agent flick. This is especially fun to hear with lines like, “We’ve got rules and maps and guns in our backs/ but we still can’t just behave ourselves.” “Young Pilgrims” follows this with a minor key beauty, comparable to some of Blur’s best quiet material. In his own eloquent way, Mercer expresses his longings and angst with a faux British lilt. He expresses his confusions, making the observation, “Modern thought can get the best of you.”

Next comes one of the album’s masterpieces, “Saint Simon.” Any R.E.M. fan will latch onto this song as hope for the future of popular music. “Mercy’s eyes are blue/ and when she places them in front of you/ nothing holds a roman candle to the solemn warmth you feel,” Mercer sings, and that’s also true of this song. Once it passes through some stunted verse work, “Saint Simon” hits a chorus that’s every bit what “Near Wild Heaven” was on Out of Time, and the fragile beauty of the strings and harmonizing vocals are a perfect compliment to Mercer’s higher-pitched take on Stipe’s passionate, breaking style. “Saint Simon” is beautiful, and makes you realize that Chutes Too Narrow is, too, all over.

“Fighting In a Sack” conjures an older-school college rock R.E.M., and its rapid-fire style and political content make it similar to tracks like “These Days.” The sentiment in this song is summed up in the line, “Most ideas turn to dust as there are few in which we all can trust.” The track that follows, “Pink Bullets,” is more in tune with what The Shins do best: simple folk songs in the vein of “New Slang.” The songs on Chutes Too Narrow are decidedly more cynical and somber than those on Oh, Inverted World, and the harmonica toward the end of “Pink Bullets” is pretty and melancholy, a wintery song of loss.

“Turn a Square,” a Beatle-esque number, is more focused on fun. The great thing about Chutes Too Narrow is that it flows incredibly well. There is a perfect mixture of upbeat and sad songs, and when listening one track flows seamlessly into another.

The second masterpiece on the album is “Gone for Good,” a country-inspired track with delicate verses and an achingly beautiful chorus; aching without slowing down or becoming dull. Mercer sings, going in and out of falsetto: “I found a fatal flaw in the logic of love and went out of my head.” He tells of a lonely girl who is left with few options, “You wanted to jump and dance/ but you sat on your hands/ and now you’ve lost your chance.” “Gone for Good” is an alt-country song, and therefore another achievement for a young band who has managed to change styles drastically from first to second album. And not only don’t I miss their old style; they’ve gotten better.

The song that ends the album, “Those to Come,” is a slower song, more in the style of New Adventures in Hi-fi (if we’re still comparing to R.E.M.). Though it is pretty, the album would probably do better to end with “Gone for Good.” The one bad habit The Shins (as well as other bands) have is making the last song on their album the longest. I would rather have heard a short, mid-tempo track than a depressing epitaph like “Those to Come.”

But it’s no matter; The Shins have created an album that any band, much less a band that just started out, would be lucky to make. The Shins are a band on their way to massive artistic success, and much like those who reviewed R.E.M.’s early indie work (like the pivotal Reckoning in 1984), I feel honored that I get to listen to it happen.