Shearwater

About

Fans of Okkervil river will be familiar with Shearwater.  Jonathan Meiburg (Okkervil side man) fronts Shearwater.  And Okkervil’s frontman, Will Sheff, took the Shearwater journey with Meiburg for a bit, until Shearwater gained its own popularity.  Now, after 5 LP’s, all of which have been received strongly, Shearwater is a fixture in indie rock. 

Shearwater, heavy and at times reminiscent of David Bazan (see “Rooks”), is a nearly seamless project with dynamic range.  The big pay off in any of their tracks is the surprising turns the melody takes.  Enjoy “Century Eyes” to see this in full force.  This is all still rock music.  But, in “Century Eyes” Meiburg belts a climbing verse to be relieved by a jolting, almost haunting, chorus; which is something more inventive, in my mind, than just rock and roll.

Shearwater slow things down, too.  “The Snow Leopard”, reminiscent in tone of early Coldplay, a band for which Shearwater has opened, carries the tenor of the Southern-rock slow jam in remarkably proficient ways.  Experience with headphones.

“Meridian” is a worldly track from the band’s latest Golden Archipelago LP that tells a story again in that slow-jam-turned-balled form—close in style to a track like “The Snow Leopard” but also indicative of where the band has come in the two years since Rook.  “Meridian” has a more intimate feel, which has something to do with its enchanting Bikinian folk intro.  Sings Meiburg,

In the boom and swell,
from the waves to the heights,
reverberations
of our old lives.

What have Shearwater learned?  It may not be self-evident.  There is some thought that “Meridian” and “Missing Islands”, an equally beautiful track, act as intentional and thematic bookends to the album.  Here is Meiburg, at the very end of the LP, via “Missing Islands”,

Bandages pulled from the eyes
the violent surging of life,
in the bloodstream of heaven and earth
falls away. 
Stars on the boundary line
bloom and recede in the day
and the airfield is over the waves. 

Reviewers of Golden Archipelago have mentioned that one of the ways the band excels is in their sense of nuance.  Golden Archipelago, for instance, is incredibly coherent as an album—it’s almost Kid A-like in its impeccable sequencing.  And when you reach the end, and have a chance to catch up and reflect with a song like “Missing Islands” you start realizing what the band might be trying to get through to the listener.  There’s a lot here about nature and our human understanding and consequences.  I have not heard such a natural and affecting album in a long time. But, I shouldn’t muse here.  It’s better to listen to the record yourself or just see them live.

- John Scherer