Chutes Too Narrow

Chutes Too Narrow is The Shins’ 2003 follow-up to their debut album, Oh, Inverted World. The album title comes from a lyric in the song “Young Pilgrims.” The album was generally well received by critics, garnering an overall score of 88/100 on Metacritic. According to Nielsen SoundScan, they have sold over 393,001 copies to date.

Chutes Too Narrow features cleaner production standards than the “lo-fi” Oh, Inverted World. This is largely due to the album’s being mixed by producer Phil Ek, who has also worked with Built to Spill and Modest Mouse. Chutes Too Narrow also departs from the band’s keyboard-driven debut and shifts towards more emphasis on guitars.

The album also included violin parts on “Saint Simon”, played by Annemarie Ruljancich, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. The cover art was designed by Jesse LeDoux. The songs “Gone for Good” and “Those To Come” were used in the 2004 film In Good Company.