Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

After a long drought of Shins news, here comes the flood. Pitchfork chatted with frontman James Mercer today, and he spilled the beans on the band's recent lineup changes (keyboardist Marty Crandall and drummer Jesse Sandoval aren't in the band), as well as a bunch of exciting projects. There's a new Shins album in the works for Mercer's own Aural Apothecary label, which will also reissue the sole album from the pre-Shins band Flake Music. There's a mysterious collaboraton. There's that movie he's in with Carrie Brownstein, and his contribution to the Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse project Dark Night of the Soul. And finally, there's the film soundtrack Mercer worked on with Modest Mouse...

Let's dive right in.

When the Shins took the stage at Western Washington University on Saturday night for the first night of their spring tour, fans discovered that the band had changed. Keyboardist Marty Crandall and drummer Jesse Sandoval had been replaced by Ron Lewis from Grand Archives and Fruit Bats on bass and Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse on drums. Crandall, Sandoval, and Mercer had been playing together since their mid-90s Flake Music days, and Mercer decided it was time for a change. "I started to have production ideas that I wanted to do that basically required some other people," he said. "It's mainly about that. It's an aesthetic decision. It's kind of hard to talk abut stuff like that, isn't it? Because I don't want to bum anybody out. I'm on good terms with those guys, I hope to maintain that."

He added, "I wouldn't say I'd never work with them again. I love working with those guys." (And in case you're wondering, according to Mercer, Crandall's exit from the Shins didn't have anything to do with that domestic abuse drama from early last year.)

To accomplish his new aesthetic goals, Mercer recruited Lewis and Plummer, who are on board for the current tour as well as the next Shins album. That album is still in its very early stages, with Mercer planning to begin recording at the end of the current tour, and continue through the summer. He's aiming for a release early next year.

Two songs, "Double Bubble" and "The Rifle's Spiral" are being debuted on the road right now, and Mercer said he has 30 songs in the can. But don't expect to hear much moping around on the new album. "It's a lot more up-tempo stuff," he said. "I haven't really got any real ballad-y stuff right now. I've got 30 songs and none of them are real slow. I think maybe, I'm not so melancholy lately. I'm real happy. I've been lucky in love and I've got a wonderful kid now and things have been going well. Some of the songs are sort of aggressive in a new wave way. I'm excited about it."

Mercer thinks that his new material represents some of his best work. "For some reason, it seems like pop writers, it's like they just get worse or something over time. And then you're really jealous of movie directors whose careers seem to grow and they'll be 70 years old and still doing these incredible jobs. I'm going to reverse that, I hope. I think it's just working hard at it and not letting yourself be satisfied with the stuff."

The new album will be released on Mercer's own label, Aural Apothecary, possibly with distribution from a larger label, possibly the Shins' former home, Sub Pop. So why not stick with Sub Pop? Why strike out on your own? "Because you get more money," Mercer stated, matter-of-factly. "I mean, it's more work and it's more headache and all that, but I think it'll be worth it in the end."