1) The Fear (Flipped); 2) So Now What (Flipped); 3) Heartworms (Flipped); 4) Dead Alive (Flipped); 5) Half a Million (Flipped); 6) Rubber Ballz (Flipped); 7) Mildenhall (Flipped); 8) Fantasy Island (Flipped); 9) Cherry Hearts (Flipped); 10) Painting a Hole (Flipped); 11) Name for You (Flipped)
An equally baffling and exciting run of increasingly out-there alternative versions that turn out to achieve something the original songs didn't.
I can’t say I’ve encountered another album like The Worm’s Heart. Artists re-recording and reinterpreting their old songs is nothing new and in fact is almost expected at this stage as the big anniversary numbers roll in. It’s not too uncommon either to hear a specific album with a new sound: e.g. Jim James, Conor Oberst and Manchester Orchestra among many others have released twin versions of a particular album of theirs to showcase the same songs in a different way. But then there’s The Worm’s Heart, borne out of James Mercer’s absolutely bizarre whim to create two completely unique versions of each song written for 2017’s Heartworms. And it's unique in the very definition of the word: these aren’t acoustic versions or slightly tweaked arrangements or anything even remotely similar to what was heard on Heartworms. The hooks and melodies on this album are the same as they were on Heartworms, but the rest is something completely new and off the wall. The sunshine pop of “Name for You” has become a 80s Depeche Mode indebted synth brooder, the formerly acoustic “Mildenhall” has found a fuzz pedal and a goofball garage rock attitude, “Dead Alive” is a goth ballad now, “Half a Million” goes reggae. Anything is a fair game and Mercer turns the previous The Shins album into a series of stylistic experiments of any genre or idea he could never incorporate into actual proper album of his, but this time? This time he's indulging in his wildest ideas.
The Worm’s Heart is obviously a mixed bag - how on earth could it not be? - but it's actually shocking how rarely the "flipped" versions stumble completely despite everything that's going on. In fact, in some measures this is arguably a better album than the actual Heartworms and that's because Mr Mercer's wild ride has a really infectious sense of fun. Heartworms was a weird album but it held itself back in some ways - in comparison, this is completely unhinged and I'm really responding to it. It's a complete mess of course, but in a positive way - in a manner that makes its incohesiveness its own mad rabbit hole that holds together by the sheer audacity of it. I don't think anyone could argue that this album represents Mercer or The Shins at their best, and at the end of the day as the melodies and hooks remain the same there's only so much that these transformations can do to uplift them - but it's simply so much fun whenever artists just have a go at whatever the hell they want and this is an album dedicated to that forbidden fruit of playing songs in styles you would never dream of otherwise recording because of some take on self-imposed artistic integrity preventing it.
Honestly, quite often The Worm's Heart downright improves Heartworms because Mercer's fearlessness gives him the means to break out of his creative shell in a manner most positive. Take "Heartworms" itself, and how its chorus finally gets the chance to jump out like it shyly backed out of doing on
the milquetoast original version, jolting into the front of the
race as a warbling, hyperactive synth pop number that’s a blast of energy and joy. I called "Rubber Ballz" one of the weakest songs released on a Shins album in my review of the original album and now its gently thumping acoustic form has a heartfelt sincerity that underlines the strength of the core melody that was practically buried originally. The too-cool-for-school synth pop vibe of “Name for You” is marvellous
and an honest delight, a true love letter to a sound Mercer evidently
has a great deal of affinity for, and it's actually more engaging than the very typically Shins-esque original version. “Cherry Hearts”, too, has simply evolved and it's now the jangly college rock number that it really should’ve been all along. There are also plenty of takes that simply stand on their own, including that reggae'd up "Half a Million" that starts out like a heart attack as it demonstrates why white indie nerds maybe shouldn't touch reggae, but it shifts and changes shortly thereafter to incorporate so much more than just a store value band island groove and by its end it's neck to neck with the excellent original; and similarly the new comically funereal "Dead Alive" is just so out there compared to the original (or anything else) that I respect it for it.
As mentioned there are stumbles, but I'm still surprised just how few and far between they are. Namely, "Fantasy Island" has had the least changes and it's a little better than the dire original but not exactly notably so, and "Mildenhall" is responsible for a light chuckle when the loose and ramshackle rock riffs start but it takes about half a minute for the joke to grow old: the whole "make an acoustic song into a raw rocker" shtick is the kind of obviousness the rest of the album avoids and it's the most awkward fit in its new guise. "The Fear" is another bar rocker and while a little better, it doesn't really hold up for its whole five-ish minutes. But for a random pick 'n' mix album like this, roughly a quarter of weaker cuts is an unexpectedly high batting average - and even they're, y'know, memorable which is something I can't say from everything on Heartworms. The original album is one I'm still not entirely sure where exactly I stand on it even though I've reviewed and rated it and all, and yet I am increasingly confident in saying that this is the better version of the two despite how it's got the air of a weird alternate universe bootleg album instead of the artist's genuine vision. I've got a soft spot for albums that make it their central motto to keep surprising and which revel with a kind of creative frenzy that spray their inspiration everywhere and pray it hits the goal; but where even the misses have a rush of excitement to them. I repeat the word "fun" a lot with The Worm's Heart but that's ultimately why I appreciate it so much - it removes some of the self-seriousness that Mercer's been crippled by since Port of Morrow, and as a result his musical touch has grown warmer again even when he's doing a whole album out of cosplaying as his personal favourite acts.
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