Attendees at the Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park this past August, were lucky enough to catch the new-look Shins perform a couple of fresh tracks featured on their upcoming record, which they recently announced will be released in March.

Significantly more groove-worthy than the whimsical, folk-oriented Shins of albums past, you get the feeling Danger Mouse rubbed off on lead vocalist James Mercer when they collaborated in Broken Bells.

Port of Morrow is the Shins’ first album since 2007’s Grammy-nominated Wincing the Night Away, and features a revamped lineup that includes industry-established musicians such as Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer and Yuuki Matthews of Crystal Skulls.

Judging from their first single, we should be seeing the band’s name appear on music critics’ annual lists of “indie darlings” in 2012. You can find a sneak preview here: http://simplesong.theshins.com/