Album for today… Shearwater – Rook [2008]

// July 9th, 2010 // Music Reviews

I first heard these songs around 6 months ago and they promptly got lost among the playlists I was going through at the time in order to compile my Festive 50. However, I’m now on my 3rd listen of the week. Shearwater are from Austin, Texas and Rooks was their 5th album release. You could characterise them as melancholic indie rockers with a taste for the baroque and a liking for unconventional instruments. The most startling facet of this album is the vocal delivery of singer, Jonathan Meiburg. He’s been described as being like a cross between Antony Hegarty and Jeff Buckley and his lyrics lend a slight otherworldliness  to this brilliant album. Below this short article I’m pasting a 4 track video (originally from NPR Music) by the band.

Shearwater and The Decemberists are currently my favourite two American bands. Last year’s The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists keeps getting queued up during my working day and the new release from Shearwater, The Golden Archipelago, is next on my list of albums to which to lend my ears. I strongly urge you to search these releases out.