PALO SANTO

Shearwater

Crossover Prog

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kenethlevine
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Prog-Folk Team

Around the time that Jonathan Meiburg decided to devote all his energies to SHEARWATER and buddy Will Sheff returned to focus his on OKKERVIL RIVER, came this first installment of the Island Trilogy, arguably the peak output of this project, though most of those accolades are more sagely allocated to the subsequent pair.

Comprised in the main of very low energy, at times imperceptible numbers not dissimilar to much of a certain 1971 KING CRIMSON album, "Palo Santo" is not unexpectedly at its best when its pulse rises above 50, though most everything has merit given enough time and attention, the question being when is enough? Comparisons to TALK TALK, mid period FLEETWOOD MAC (where Peter Green, Danny Kirwan and Bon Welch still jam somewhere off planet), WOVEN HAND ("Red Sea Black Sea") DAVID SYLVIAN (in style not vocally) and AISLES (in vocals not style) are all possible.

My picks here are "Red Sea Black Sea", "White Waves", "Seventy Four Seventy Five" and "Johnny Viola", with special kudos to whoever is playing the piano, but as a whole, it's here that Meiburg and company seem to be speaking for themselves more than ever, and with a certain botanical healing quality, just a little bit too quietly to reach some of us.

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Posted Wednesday, June 18, 2025 | Review Permalink

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