The Shins On SNL: Indie Band Plays 'Simple Song' And 'It's Only Life' (VIDEO)

The Shins are the latest in the growing roster of indie bands to take the SNL stage. The band performed on the Jonah Hill-hosted episode Saturday night, playing two tracks off their forthcoming first album in five years, Port of Morrow -- "Simple Song" and "It's Only Life." From there, the band is heading to SXSW, where they'll hopefully put their clapping butter to good use.

Their performances here are so put together, they wouldn't sound out of place as the final, polished tracks on their record. Tune in at the three-minute mark on "Simple Song" to hear James Mercer's voice drop an octave and show us what it can do.

Port of Morrow drops March 20, but you can catch it in full, streaming on iTunes starting Tuesday.

Watch The Shins perform "Simple Song":

Watch The Shins perform "It's Only Life":

Comments

[sheirah]

09:23 PM on 04/01/2012

Pitchfork called the new album "best new music" and I have NO qualms with that. Port of Morrow is seriously one of my top albums ever.

[Shelby CMR]

05:14 PM on 03/28/2012

awesome live performance. the video of "Simple Song" is incredible as well! http://bit.ly/x16E7v

[labrat03]

10:34 AM on 03/22/2012

I love the Shins, but I'm not as impressed with their new album. Compared to their old albums it just doesn't stand up.

[mtnrunner2]

01:24 AM on 03/22/2012

Was searching for the video clips and found this. Great performances. Not every band sounds so good live, and they nailed it.

[Dave Manville]

04:00 PM on 03/18/2012

Great SNL episode! I was excited when I saw the Shins were playing (and they killed it!). Really excited to pick up the new album on 3/20. Have you guys seen the video for "simple song" yet? Such a crazy idea for a video

[sheirah]

09:14 PM on 03/17/2012

I'm SO stoked on the new Shins! I just saw they released another song, "Bait and Switch", on Pitchfork. AMAZING. http://pitchfork.com/news/45616-video-the-shins-bait-and-switch/

[Kalie Riemer]

10:04 PM on 03/13/2012

They sounded great on SNL! I've been addicted to Simple Song since I watched the video.

http://vevo.ly/xftjVy

[peachpage01]

11:18 AM on 03/11/2012

They're now based in Portland. I actually thought this was a clip from Portlandia as they resemble cast members. The Shins have been around since the 90's. Nice of SNL to be so "current". The band is relevant, SNL is not.