Fighting in a Sack

James Mercer started in Albuquerque with a band called Flake. The Shins grew out of that. Sub Pop signed them and released Oh, Inverted World in 2001. Enough to build a following but not enough to break through. Mercer moved to Portland and set up a recording space in his basement. He wrote and recorded most of the second album there and finished the sessions in Seattle with producer Phil Ek. Chutes Too Narrow came out in October 2003. Ten songs. Just under half an hour. The record found an audience. It was not yet clear how large that audience would become.

Nine months after the album, Sub Pop released “Fighting in a Sack” as a promotional single. The B-side included a cover of a Marc Bolan song called “Baby Boomerang” and a live version of “New Slang” recorded with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine at The Knitting Factory in Los Angeles in February 2003. The single was written by James Mercer and released July 13, 2004. Fifteen days later, a film opened in American theaters.

Garden State opened July 28, 2004. Director Zach Braff had placed “New Slang” in a pivotal scene. Natalie Portman’s character hands the main character a pair of headphones and tells him the song will change his life. The scene described exactly what it felt like to discover The Shins for the first time. Both of the band’s albums sold more than twice what they had sold before the film. Sub Pop no longer needed to release promotional singles to keep Chutes Too Narrow alive. Released July 13, 2004. Two weeks before everything changed.