The Shins vs. Fundamentalist Christians

We've written about Plugged-In before, but it's been a while. In short, it's fundie Focus on the Family's guide to secular pop culture. And it's frequently hilarious. Their review of Wincing the Night Away by the Shins is a fine example:

Numbness and futility haunt "Australia," which imagines marriage as a lonely prison. Other songs contain random, disjointed references to sexual intimacy, moral relativism, unhealthy relationships, "pilfered booze" and a dog getting whacked by a locomotive. In general, it seems life is meaningless and beyond our control, giving way to postmodern subjectivity. [...]

We've reviewed some cryptic discs over the years, but Wincing The Night Away is one of the trippiest. Equally odd is the paradox between the band's sound and its message. The Shins' playful, ethereal melodies have a pleasantly experimental, occasionally retro-psychedelic flavor. Yet this act's enigmatic poetry is full of despair and melancholy. Not worth the effort.

Equally odd is that this is pretty much the same conclusion we came to in the Glorious Noise review of the album...

MP3s: "Phantom Limb" and "Australia" (courtesy of Sub Pop).