Shearwater

Shearwater is an American indie rock band from Austin, Texas, active since 2001. It begins as a project shared by two members of Okkervil River: Jonathan Meiburg, who sings and plays multiple instruments, and Will Sheff, who writes and performs with the band. They form it to make quieter songs than their main work.

Line-up and development

From 2005, Sheff reduces his role, and Meiburg becomes the main songwriter from Palo Santo onwards. The band’s later line-up includes Jonathan Meiburg, Thor Harris, Kim Burke and Lucas Oswald, with contributions from many other musicians. Touring in 2012 includes producer and drummer Danny Reisch, guitarist and vocalist Mitch Billeaud of The Lemurs, and Christiaan Mader of Brass Bed.

Albums and recordings

Shearwater releases nine full-length albums, including The Dissolving Room, Everybody Makes Mistakes, Winged Life, Palo Santo, Rook, The Golden Archipelago, Animal Joy, and Jet Plane & Oxbow. The group also releases the EPs Thieves and The Snow Leopard, a split LP with Okkervil River titled Sham Wedding/Hoax Funeral, and the covers album Fellow Travelers.

Themes and writing

Meiburg is also an ornithologist and writer, and that background shapes the band’s work. Palo Santo is partly written in the Galápagos Islands in the context of Charles Darwin’s work. Rook draws on studies in the Falkland Islands and on mass extinction. The Golden Archipelago focuses on the destruction of island cultures in the 20th century and beyond. Animal Joy returns to more personal themes. Fellow Travelers grows from a small home EP into a full album built around relationships with other bands they meet on the road.