Shearwater I'm not familiar with either. I know it' a big flappy bird but
that's about all I know about them. They have a new album out on Matador which
is all very serious and proper. To give you an indication of how serious and
proper it is I'll tell you it sounds a lot like latter day Talk Talk crossed with
Van Morrison. I quite enjoyed the majority of what I heard as well. Strong
songwriting seems to be the key here. Am reasonably impressed and think I'll
have a plunder into their back catalogue when I get a minute!
Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.
What their label says...
Shearwater, a real gem on America’s underground, release their new
album, ‘Rook’. A hugely ambitious follow-up to ‘Palo Santo’ (2006,
reissued by Matador in 2007) described by Pitchfork as “a quietly
amazing record that took months for many people to realise just how far
the band had pushed themselves, plumbing new depths of atmosphere while
finding the most haunting and memorable melodies of their career”. Produced
by Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg and recorded by Matthew Barnhart at
Denton’s Echo Lab, themes within meditate on man’s intersection with
the natural world: the hunter and the prey; the extinction of species;
the world after human beings are gone. On a wider level, the vivid
images of animals and landscapes act as a metaphor for human
relationships, a dark fairy tale encased in a cycle of songs. Jonathan
Meiburg’s bold, soaring voice, occasionally falsetto, still anchors the
songs, which broaden the pastoral prog-folk chaotic celestial
mindfuckery into new realms. Beyond the continuing touchstones of late
Talk Talk, Nico and John Cale, there are now allusions to Van Morrison,
hints of Joni Mitchell. All this is set in a newly lush sonic
gorgeousness of harp, strings and woodwinds atop the magnificent rhythm
section of Thor Harris and Kim Burke.
