Claude says:James Mercer's Albuquerque indie-pop project broke through when Zach Braff put "New Slang" in Garden State, turning the Shins into unlikely mainstream ambassadors for a certain wistful early-2000s sensibility. You had a few stray encounters with this soundtrack over the years, but it didn't click until March 2020, when you spent a month with "Caring Is Creepy" and "New Slang" on repeat — their understated melancholy landing differently in lockdown than it had before. The spell broke after about a year, and you haven't been back since early 2023.