Shearwater – Rook

I didn’t know much about Shearwater before I picked this new release up. A bit of research tells me that they are linked to Okkervil River out of Austin, Texas – who I have been really enjoying recently.

I had heard Leviathan Bound on a compilation somewhere, and I loved the combination of the slightly falsetto voice, coupled with the string backing – others have called references to Anthony Hegarty and its fair to say that the voices are a little similar (if not the material).

The album is more ‘folky’ than the Okkervil River sound, none more so on the beautiful ‘Home Life’  which finishes with beautiful chime sounds and ‘Lost Boys’ which is driven along by gentle strings and guitars until Jonathan Meiburg lets loose for the last few lines. South Col is an instrumental of metallic sounding noises, eerie and complex, and ‘The Snow Leopard’ starts off with a simple piano and vocal intro, followed by some deeper guitar chords and drums to create a really dramatic sound – finishing up with a wall of electronic noise.

With all the noise being whipped about Bon Iver at the moment, this may get overlooked in many reviews, but Rook is a great album – beautifully written and produced sensitively it is a really easy listen.

Shearwater – rook was released on June 3rd, and deserves your attention.