Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago

has anyone listened to this years Fellow Travelers album? we haven't talked about it yet but also know it's brand new.

OK so I'm seeing them tonight. Been on a real Shearwater kick lately but the new one hasn't really done anything for me with the exception of the one original song on it, "A Wake for the Minotaur". Why do bands do albums of covers, I wonder. Anyway, I can't get enough of Rook, The Golden Archipelago and especially Animal Joy at the moment. As a massive Okkervil River fan I used to think that Sheff was the more creative half of their former partnership, but the last OR album was a bit so-so and now I think Meiburg is at least as good a songwriter as him if not better.

New album Jet Plane and Oxbow on the way, not really feeling the first track off it I have to say:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr2pdwhjtjU

cover looks like a Muse record, intro sounds like an Editors record. :)

enjoyed their covers album though :)

haven't listened to them in a while but I don't mind the single, and the involvement of Brian Reitzell is intriguing.

This sucks, get back to ripping off Talk Talk you feebs

I agree this sucks but Shearwater have never been Talk Talk ripoffs.

Just for my reference, which record is closest to a talk talk ripoff? So I can buy it

some hideous amalgamation of Palo Santo, Rook, and Golden Archipelago which discards all of the uptempo tracks -- first of those three has the most consistently Hollis-y vocals, last has the most aggressive dynamic shifts

the opener of Palo Santo is probably the most Talk Talk-like track in their entire discography, though, and the comparison has never stuck to them the way it does with e.g. Bark Psychosis

New album out now and streaming in full here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ButIZ6xAP2M

Not really hitting me at first listen but most of their albums have been growers so we shall see.

"Filaments" is a very fine Radiohead-in-krautrock-mode imitation.

Jeez, if it's not Talk Talk people are accusing Jonathan Meiburg of ripping off, it's Radiohead. I get that every band has influences but imho Shearwater are a very long way off crossing the line that separates influence from imitation. I think the Talk Talk or Radiohead similarities are way overstated anyway.

I think the new one is pretty great, right in my wheelhouse. I read that the band had (pre-RIP) been planning to play Bowie's "Lodger" start to finish on tour, and joke or not that makes perfect sense. I also hear a bit of "Remain in Light" in here, at least on "Filaments." Or rather, I can imagine had Bowie been in Talking Heads that this is the sort of "Remain in Light" he would have made in 1980.

xpost Huh, "Filaments" was the one you thought sounded like Radiohead? Nah.

god i love his voice and the instrumentation is really intriguing

Yeah, I hear all sorts of classic early '80s art rock, from THs and Bowie to U2. But I don't hear a lot of aping, which is key, I think.

Like, this is a better U2/Waterboys/Big Music riff than Coldplay could ever hope for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcqz9OB3AcA

i haven't kept up with this dude in recent years but Palo Santo was one of my favorite records at the time, will check this one out

i fucking love "quiet americans," wow

hope this isn't like how the only song i love off of rook is "rook"

It's unfair to the band that I keep hearing things I recognize from other bands, but they're all from bands I by and large like, so I guess that's cool.

This sounds like their best in a while, they sort of lost me after Rook.

Honestly, their sound got so insular for a little while it's actually kind of relief hearing shades of other bands in their albums

If you haven't heard Animal Joy def check it out, it's a monster

I did, and it was good, but I was still so exhausted from the last three... I just needed a break, I think. I'll revisit it.

Hate to say it, but as much as I love Palo Santo, I still think Winged Life was their best

whoa was not expecting them to have gone full on '10s Synthrock Indie

songs sound pretty good though and i still love his voice

ah they turned back into the more familiar shearwater by the second half of the record

after the intro to filaments, i was waiting for him to intone "LOST MY SHAPE. TRYING TO ACT CASUAL."

boy "radio silence" is fun

i'm only really liking about every other track but maybe the whole thing will grow on me over time

the design on the album cover is hypnotic tho

'wildlife in america' sounds like jackson browne to me and i like it

Not sure how "Quiet Americans" could be any better.

yeah that song is A+

I read that the band had (pre-RIP) been planning to play Bowie's "Lodger" start to finish on tour, and joke or not that makes perfect sense.

This is actually happening next month in New York.

i don't know, I love archipelago and rook and palo santo but don't know about anything since.

'wildlife in america' is the song from this one that ended up consuming me, some of his best writing imo

Song is fantastic.

I loved their cover of the Mountain Goats's "This Year" from a couple years back, but every time I try to listen to their own stuff I just can't get beyond how much the singer's voice reminds me of Gordon Lightfoot.

There were those moments where I almost eye rolled and said "too, too on the nose," but the songwriting and production are pretty great, so that I've been WAY won over by it. I'm sorta pissed that War on Drugs did some much limper, much slighter 80s raiding and got threads and threads, and irl acclaim, and this is sorta just out there afaict. I could be missin it tho as I don't live on threads or irl.

Saw these guys last night. Was glad they pulled heavily from the new record, which is by far the best thing they've done imo.

Crowd was (predictably) sedate but warm, even when momentum occasionally lagged. Band seemed grateful for that and even played multiple encores.

In NYC this weekend, I believe.

Damn I love the weird waves of Bowie/Murphy vocals I get off of A Long Time Away played loud. That "Haa Haa!" he lets out, it thrills me man.

The new record is certainly good, with some great high points (Quiet Americans, Radio Silence). My issue is, having lived through and with their influences, I'm having a hard time feeling like I *need* a record like "Jet Plane" at this point in my life. That's not to say they're aping any one artist or style, it's just that this is a nice bowl of chicken soup when I want sushi.

http://www.avclub.com/article/shearwater-covers-entirety-david-bowies-lodger-236726
Very much like the red sails cover here, and really want to see them live just to see what they can do.

the tracks that are out from the Loma record (Meiburg + members of a group called Cross Record) are gorgeous, especially this one

https://open.spotify.com/track/7sljgxqi3fK5vmV7t2St1l?si=oztIM6vXQqeZ-2Kqy6vV5g

given how he does, i dont doubt this will be good.

On October 17th, 18th, and 19th, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of "Heroes", and in collaboration with Arts Brookfield and WNYC's New Sounds Live, the Jet Plane and Oxbow lineup of SW (me, Emily Lee, Sadie Powers, Lucas Oswald, and Josh Halpern) will form the nucleus of an all-star lineup performing Bowie's entire "Berlin Trilogy" of albums (1979's Lodger, 1978's "Heroes", and 1977's Low) at the magnificent Winter Garden Atrium at Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan, near the World Trade Center.

2nd Loma LP forthcoming, Brian Eno guests, first song is great. everyone pls check out the first album, it's stunning in places

https://youtu.be/oq5X2G5qKQI

Loma hugely underrated

yes! lots of gems on the first album but "Black Willow" immediately became one of my favorite songs ever

New (crowd-funded) album about to drop, a couple of singles have been released from it already and are sounding gorgeous. The last two albums traded their Talk Talk influences for a fuller rock/80s synth-based sound, but by the sound of it this new one may mark a partial return to what they call the 'Island Arc trilogy' (Palo Alto, Rook, The Golden Archipelago). Those in need of a Talk Talk fix may want to check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVH506GaZHs

That is lovely, I'm on board.

I enjoyed Jonathan Meiburg's Loma project too, which had a couple of moments of serious TT influence.

they used to play The Rainbow at live shows iirc

I mean this song is really lovely, albeit in debt to that late TT method of arranging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq5X2G5qKQI

yeah that's a good one

and yes aqaba is beautiful

ooh very much in favour of something that's continuing on from the loma album, i adored that

If you're into signed cds, https://shearwater.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-awakening-2022 is down to 67/500 left.

I think I posted this elsewhere a while back, the band 'Gaze is Ghost' are in that similar beautiful vein as Aqaba.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0tL9wrJZig

new album is extraordinary, maybe my favorite by them?

i have very high expectations based on the advance singles + don't shy away and this material has if anything been more talk talk than they ever were before

dan dusyznski from loma has also stayed with meiburg for this album as his main collaborator & co-producer

On this last day of 2021, we give you some pics from the first recording sessions (10 days!) for album #3. This is just the very beginning, but we like where it’s started. :) For us, 2022 will be full of music making. And for that, we are very excited. Happy New Year, Lomans! pic.twitter.com/5q4vTZNdfP

— LOMA (@lomatheband) December 31, 2021

& a new loma album is apparently already in the works too

i'd love it if they went on tour together

album is pretty good but doesn't quite live up to don't shy away

It's not quite Talk Talk but it is gorgeous and immersive and intimate and all-but-impossible to switch off before the whole album has run its course.

(I am speaking about the new album, The Great Awakening, in case that was unclear)

Absolutely loving this new album. "There Goes the Sun" is gorgeous.

Harp, the new project by one of the guys from midlake, is giving me medieval Shearwater vibes
https://harpband.bandcamp.com/track/i-am-the-seed