Band of the Week: Shearwater

Hometown: Austin, Texas
Members: Jonathan Meiburg (vocals, guitar, banjo, keyboards), Howard Draper (keyboards, lap steel, guitar, percussion), Kim Burke (bass), Thor Harris (drums, percussion), Will Sheff (musician emeritus)
Fun Fact: Meiburg wrote some of the tracks on Palo Santo, the band’s latest release, while on a two-month ornithological study in the Galapagos Islands. A devoted bird expert, the musician would escape to his tent and play guitar to avoid the swarms of mosquitoes and pass the long 12 hour nights.
Why They’re Worth Watching: Meiburg’s urgent vocals - quick to lash out or shy away at any moment - layered on top of the band’s striking fusion of guitars, keyboards, bass, piano and banjo, provide Shearwater with a compelling sound that’s hard to ignore.
For Fans Of: Okkervil River, Will Oldham, Jeff Buckley

When Shearwater completed its fourth full-length album, the sound was such a contrast to the band’s previous material that the members thought about changing the band name. Diving into a much deeper, darker territory, the band no doubt surprised its listeners before captivating them with what they had created. “There were certain feelings and landscapes I wanted to evoke with it,” says vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg. “I wanted it to be kind of friendly and yet forbidding at the same time. I wanted it to draw you in and then sort of push you away - to be welcoming but also kind of icy.”

Perhaps the greatest and most obvious change came from the fact that Palo Santo is the first Shearwater album on which Meiburg assumed all songwriting and lead vocal duties, taking the music to places unseen in the past. Without Sheff as a writing partner, Meiburg says the solo process was “nerve-wracking” at times, but ultimately gave the musician an opportunity to explore and experiment at a more personal level. “There are some things that the record is very specifically about to me, but I didn’t want those to necessarily be evident when you listened to it,” he says. “I wanted the feelings attached to the evidence and not the things themselves.”

As Shearwater prepares for upcoming U.S. and European tours, Meiburg is already at work on the fifth album. After the band’s reinvention with Palo Santo, one can only guess as to the direction in which it’ll head with its fifth release. But for the time being, Meiburg’s guess is as good as anyone’s. “I’m really excited by [the next album], but I’m also really confused by it,” he says. “I have some songs I really don’t understand - where they’re going or what they’re doing - so I have to sort of wrestle them to the ground for a while first.”