Caring Is Creepy

James Mercer wrote Oh, Inverted World in Albuquerque, New Mexico — not typically associated with indie rock mythology. But the record he made there in 2001 became one of the defining documents of early-2000s indie sensibility: carefully crafted, harmonically rich, nostalgic for something that may never have existed.

Caring Is Creepy opens that album with Mercer's voice high and slightly eerie, the melody immediately memorable, the lyrics oblique in a way that makes them more suggestive than opaque. It was later used to famous effect in Garden State (2004), briefly making The Shins synonymous with sensitive, quirky indie cinema.

The Shins have continued as Mercer's project through numerous lineup changes. Oh, Inverted World remains their most cohesive statement — a record that sounds exactly like the moment it came from.