The Shins break an extended silence with the viscerally beautiful new song “The Great Divide.” Co-written and produced by James Mercer, Jon Sortland, and Yuuki Matthews, “The Great Divide” is, in Mercer’s words, “A blend of futurism and nostalgia. We used everything from vintage synthesizers to iPhones, from a sixties Ludwig kit to an 808.” In Mercer’s unmistakable style, the lyrics of the song tap into humanity’s current collective angst, against a backdrop of reassuring melodies that evoke both bracing freshness and comforting familiarity. “It’s an epic about longing and love in a broken world,” says Mercer. “I guess we wanted to try to provide a bit of warmth and sentiment in hard times.”
