SHEARWATER

SHEARWATER's first album of original material since the island arc is a high voltage (for them anyway) shocker that effectively counteracts the pallid "Fellow Travelers". While that misstep was based on decent covers of mediocre tracks by also rans who happened to tour with Meiburg and co, "Jet Plane and Oxbow" pays homage to artistic and commercial giants who helped shape this fascinating cooperative.

FRom the very first notes of the hypnotic "Prime", a transformation from largely acoustic to electric keyboards is apparent, and these form many of the hooks that help make the album so appealing. From the 1980s synth pop of "Quiet Americans" to the 1990s jangly pop of "Only Child", through to the ENO/CAN THIRD EAR BAND (and somebody else in the infectious chorus I can't put my finger on though it's driving me crazy) extravaganza "Filaments" to the TALK TALK chatter of "Backchannels", the echoes of the usual suspects abound. A big surprise is how much "Pale Kings" sounds like a low key RUNRIG without the Scottish lilt.

While the last 4 tracks are relatively flat, particularly the busy work of "Glass Bones" and the irritating vocal effects of "Stray Light at Clouds Hill", I can readily forgive these meanderings, particularly on aerial view.

With the possible exception of one track, this is an album of covers, but of the also rans rather than the classics, based on the dubious choice of artists with whom SHEARWATER had toured in the decade prior to release. Since I had already invested too much time in the reviewing exercise before my compatriot gently broke the news to me, I am hereby shattering my unwritten rule that states such albums are beneath my station and best to pretend it's not part of the truly "official" discography of major releases. After multiple listens, my policy is as intact as ever, but here we are.

LIke a musical Stockholm Syndrome, "Fellow Travelers" attempts to persuade us that those late nights with guitars and groupies are as important to us as to them. It's a sentimental move by Meiburg and co and I am not averse to shmaltz but prefer it in the music. It's a given that Shearwater's versions are generally superior to the originals, other than COLDPLAY's "Hurts Like Heaven", but that's about all I can say. The highlights are two heavier numbers "I Love the Valley Oh" and "Natural One", with "Tomorrow" almost reaching that plateau, and "Mary is Mary" the best of the balladic as it sounds most like what the group might do on its own, or at least might have done 10 years earlier. "My F'd up Life" isn't terrible either,. with vocal emphasis that could have passed for PETE MORTON. Too bad they didn't tour with him.

This isn't prime time Shearwater in any manner and, while a case could be made fo rounding up in support of the "making something out of nothing" argument, I didn't ask them to attempt it, and I can't help feeling duped into a bargain trip when I would have rather stayed home.

The follow up to SHEARWATER's island arc of albums and their crossover folk prog masterpiece "The Golden Archipelago" cranks up the rock factor to maybe a 5 but, surprisingly, coming from this folkie, that's not where they lose points. The opener is like a "Talk to the Animals" for Doctor Dolittle's more eco-savvy great great grandchildren, and should have been a hit if that matters at all to anyone reading this, while "Breaking the Yearlings" is almost as catchy and even more raucous, with its pounding beats and throwback organ. For a bit of the old islands feeling we have the low key eerie "Believing makes it easy".

It's the hypnotically dull and morose paeans to the Lords of Languish TALK TALK that lose me in the core of this project. "Insolence" in particular could have been an average track at half its length, and the next couple are ploddingly soporific as well. While they may idolize TALK TALK for good reasons, in these instances Meiburg and co seem to forget that, while they have only only a tiny fraction of that band's listenership, their fans are just as passionate and listen for that singular and joyous, slightly fuzzy and cuddly Shearwater voice. .

Closing the loop on the island arc in grand fashion, SHEARWATER's "The Golden Archipelago" strikes the center circle surrounded but never dominated by the alternate attractions and repulsions of crossover, post rock and prog folk, and is even more glorious than that sounds. It isn't quite flawless, as the less than imperfect "Corridors" attests, but the majesty of "Black Eyes", the propulsion of "Landscape at Speed", the hypnotism of "Hidden Lakes" (with overtones of NORTH SEA RADIO ORCHESTRA), the dignity of "An Insular Life", and the growing qualities of most everything else more than adequately compensate.

Jonathan Meiburg has navigated the challenge of growing with his own facets as well as those of fellow members, to the point where his vocals could be described as formidable and versatile, concepts hitherto unimaginable, and as always the arrangements elevate the experience. Even the bonus cuts, particularly "Anak Renata", are essential listening.

This might not be the most deserving 5 star rating I've allocated, but it epitomizes the "whole greater than the sum of its parts" project, and glitters with ingenious modesty.

In the second installment of the Island Arc, Jonathan Meiburg and company hit their purple patch, with a well curated and balanced blend of balladry and abandon. While one could argue that MIDLAKE's 2006 classic "Trials of Van Occupanther" was influenced by earlier SHEARWATER, it seems more likely that "Rook" deftly incorporated influences from their fellow Texans, particularly on the luscious and lucid title cut and on the masterpiece "Home Life". In historic contrast, the other peerless saga "The Snow Leopard" dives back into the nearly obscured past of early prog (think PROCOL HARUM's "A Salty Dog") like a musical comfort food. The above are my current go to's for on-demand frisson. The rockers haven't been left aside either, as the BOWIE like "Century Eyes" hits home and hard. The piano arrangements remain obligatory listening whether you play or not, and the strings are folded in with sensitivity. A strategic coup.

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.

While "Winged Life" sounds less than the work of two very different writers than the first 2 SHEARWATER albums, finally folds in JONATHAN MEIBURG's ornithological muses, and begins to mess around with (experiment is a bit too complimentary a term at this juncture) the longer form, it's still shockingly timid and lethargic. Luckily, it's a bit more indie pop oriented, with "My Good Deed", the JONATHAN RICHMAN-like "The Convert", and "A Makeover" reflecting back some of that OKKERVIL RIVER sunshine in an appropriately more laid back format. As for Meiburg himself, he seems to be marking time here, stealing for what would become the Island Arc trilogy, and he is otherwise incognito, which makes only half a good album. I was expecting a bit more, but unfortunately this falls somewhere between "The Dissolving Room" and "Everybody Makes MIstakes" in quality and memorability, rarely taking flight, hence 2.5 stars, rounded down.

Yes, and I think this may be one of them, not to be blatantly trite. It seemed like a good idea the year before when Meiburg and Sheff rounded up the best of their rank and file tunes left over from OKKERVIL RIVER, but in 2002 it both were putting all their energies, physical or otherwise, into that group and treating this like the side project it was at the time.

This is an overwhelmingly slouch affair with a lumbering tristesse that would never have been found on an early 1970s album, because no record company of that day would have spent a cent on it, bless their hearts. At this point SHEARWATER was targeting sensitive slowfoik (a new genre for me), and you can hear it in the minimal arrangements and the frail strings here and there, but it's only mildly pleasing on a few upbeat numbers like "Well Benjamin" and "MIstakes", the clarinet heroism of "1209", and especially in the eerie almost vacuum sealed atmosphere of "Wreck". The latter almost passes unnoticed due to the somnolence of its compatriots, so I apologize if another gem might have been missed, but hey, like the album says.

What do you do when you are already in one acclaimed indie group and find yourself and a bandmate with a bunch of "leftover" material of better-than-leftover quality that just doesn't fit the upbeat energetic style of the band? If you are WILL SHEFF and JONATHAN MEIBURG in 1999, you start SHEARWATER, a parallel project to OKKERVIL RIVER. They shared vocal and songwriting duties, and both bands gained success and stability in the 2000s and beyond.

"The Dissolving Room" sets course in a more subdued folk, singer/songwriter direction, and at this stage eschews pop elements, with predominant acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, and accordion, but utterly lacking the bluegrass, country and rock and roll of the first band. The contrasting lyrical and vocal styles of both men are paradoxically compatible, Sheff being more narrative and with a gruffer voice that reminds me of New England folk singer ELLIS PAUL, and Meiburg being more introspective with a smoother, higher pitch that at times recalls TIM SMITH of MIDLAKE or the nigh forgotten DAVID GATES of BREAD in gentility if not in subject matter.

The bar is set high with the opener "Mulholland", a wistful ballad with arrangements to match, and the album doesn't really dip until the last 3 tracks, with my other recommendations being the wrenching "Angelina" and, in particular, the haunting "The Left Side" that might be the most proggy number here, hinting at the developments that were still close to a decade off.

It's always wise to start the journey with a single step no matter how short or timid, before the sweet naivete of that moment yields to "corrupting" internal and external forces. This wispy piece may have dematerialized in the eyes of many long time fans, but is anything but skippable.