When James Mercer was recording his latest Shins LP Heart Worms as a creative exercise he decided to re-record the songs in the opposite way of the originals. Songs that were more rock and uptempo became more acoustic and slow, and songs that were acoustic and slow in tempo became more upbeat. They were flipped. The result of those sessions he calls, The Worms Heart.

Front man James Mercer was recently in Sydney and Melbourne at the start of 2017 to connect with media ahead of the album release. In contrast to 2012’s “Port Of Morrow”, which debuted at #3 on the US Billboard Top 200, #4 on the ARIA Album Chart and was nominated for a Best Alternative Album Grammy, “Heartworms” ushered in a return to the handmade.

“Heartworms” was, as always, entirely written by James Mercer. However, with the exception of ‘So Now What’ (produced by Richard Swift), “Heartworms” was the first Shins album to be self-produced by Mercer since “Oh, Inverted World” in 2001.