Shearwater
The Golden Archipelago
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Label: Matador
Founded by Okkervil River’s Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff, Shearwater moved out of the shadow of its cousin band over the course of the ’00s and came into its own as a compelling, NPR-beloved and sometimes majestic indie band. They peaked with 2008′s Rook and are following that album with The Golden Archipelago, their sixth full-length and third for Matador. “Concept album” is such an ugly phrase, but this is an album, as the title indicates, about islands; Meiburg has done research work on islands such as the Galapagos and the Falklands and drew on his grandfather’s World War II experiences in the South Pacific. Though relatively short, it’s ambitious and does have a lyrical unity not often found on contemporary albums. This is not an album for listening to an individual track or two on Lala
As always, it’s Meiburg’s powerful, piercing, almost operatic voice that is the centerpiece. It’s a voice that is always tense with drama and when the music matches him, as it does on “Corridors,” it can be thrilling. Meiburg is, as he has been from the start, concerned with nature. He’s done grad work in ornithology- which explains the band’s name- and previous albums were called Rook and Winged Life. They are a rural band rather than an urban one, making them stand out in the mostly metropolitan indie rock world. At their best, they do evoke the power and mystery of nature without coming across as new age-y or cheesy. Meiburg sounds as if he’s singing from the peaks on “Black Eyes,” and the music is sweeping and surging, while “Castaways” is driven by the album’s strong, robust percussion and soaring vocals.
The Golden Archipelago, a title that perhaps is meant to evoke Solzhenitsyn, is full of songs that wouldn’t sound out of place outdoors or in a Planet Earth episode. All are given a clear, sharp-edged sound by busy indie producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Black Mountain). It opens with “Meridian,” which uses a snippet from an anthem by natives of Bikini Atoll- the famous atomic bomb test sight- to establish a theme of imperiled or spoiled nature. Yet the themes are worked in organically and subtly. The songs can employ lush strings, as on “God Made Me,” but the more epic rock songs, particularly the explosive “Corridors,” are the ones that carry the album. The band understands dynamics and balances the faster, wide-open songs with slower and quieter songs, such as “Landscape at Speed,” which has an atmospheric, Eno feel. Yet these more subdued songs don’t play to the band’s strengths and don’t help the record’s momentum. The Golden Archipelago could use more peaks and fewer valleys, but it is an impressive, complex album that rewards multiple listens and continues Shearwater’s ascent.
