Offstage many of rock n’ roll’s most prominent figures have hobbies that might surprise us – golf, bingo, bee keeping – but not many have outed themselves as ornithologists. For Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg however it’s a matter of talking it and walking it. His passion has stretched to writing a book on the subject, A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life Of The World’s Smartest Birds Of Prey, a tome appraised by one critic with the strapline ‘Calling this a bird book is like calling Moby Dick a whaling manual.’
Meiburg began Shearwater as a side project from Okkervil River alongside Will Shelf, taking over the lead role when the latter returned for them full time in 2006. Now a trio incorporating Emily Lee and Dan Duszynski, books and other things have made their output relatively modest since, 2022’s The Great Awakening being their last outing.
The New World however is well worth the four year wait. Featuring an ensemble cast of guest musicians and a trove of Meiburg’s own field recordings, although never brash or overstated, nevertheless it’s a compelling listen. Rooted in post rock, ambient textures and in places neoclassicism, the likes of A Mink in the Dusk and Slugs in the Marigolds have a warmth and simplicity which recalls Sigur Rós or the latter phase of Talk Talk.
There’s motion too, Daydream Unbeliever with it’s prophetic lyrical rejection of the status quo “Hold the lens up to the light/Or wander around in hell” , but with a surprise and beguiling monologue from Laurie Anderson it’s the remarkable closer You And Your Dog that turns the whole thing on it’s head. Enveloping, The New World is a masterpiece, a haunting portrait of nature’s beauty which will have vanished by the time we begrudgingly realise it’s even there.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 