This year's much-anticipated Rook takes the band into realms both richer and stranger. Though a similarly haunted, elegaic mood - punctuated by flashes of dread and menace - pervades the album, Rook is its own animal, at once more accessible (the near-title track, "Rooks", anchored by Thor Harris' thunderous kick drum, a booming organ, and a stately trumpet line, could almost be mistaken for radio-friendly) and more accomplished than its predecessor, with a depth and grandeur that seem improbably packed into the album's tidy 35 minutes. [...]
News
8/15/08--New NYC Date, October 20
(photo from Kayla Kitamorn's Flickr stream)
While we're waiting for a few more confirmations before we can announce all the details of Shearwater's October run of East Coast dates, tickets for an October 20 show at (Le) Poisson Rouge just went on sale today. We hope to see you there....but try not to wear too much poison rouge.
8/12/08-- Live at Florence Gould Hall NYC
If you missed this truly amazing evening with Shearwater, or just want to see it over and over the show is now readily available. The wonderful people at Baeble Music recorded it and are streaming the first set in which they played Rook in it's entirety. Here's a preview of show with the band playing Leviathan, Bound. Full set can be enjoyed here.
7/28/08--New European Dates
Hot off the heels from opening various Stateside enormo-dome arenas for some band called Coldplay (yeah I know, me neither), us Brits - along with the French, Irish and Dutch - finally get a piece of the Shearwater action this coming September.
If, like me, you're of a financially-challenged nature, please take note of the free in-store gig the band will be doing at London's Rough Trade East store on Thursday 18th September.
In a nutshell, there's no excuse to miss out. At least, none that will wash with me.
10 September - Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL)
12 September - La Maroquinerie, Paris (FR)
13 September - End Of The Road Festival, Dorset (GB)
15 September - Captain's Rest, Glasgow (GB)
16 September - The Roadhouse, Manchester (GB)
17 September - Bush Hall, London (GB)
18 September - Rough Trade East, London (GB) *Free in-store performance*
19 September - Whelans, Dublin (IE)
20 September - Speakeasy, Belfast (GB)
21 September - Roisin Dubh, Galway (IE)
7/17/08--Shearwater at Fingerprints, Long Beach, CA
Photography by Miwa Okumura.
I'm pretty sure the guy on the far right is checking his voice mail (as opposed to sticking his fingers in his ears). Not shown : Nate Dogg, Chris Martin.
7/14/08--Shearwater on WFMU
(Live in Ft. Worth, TX 6/27 - Photo c/o nffcnnr's Flickr page)
7/10/08--Shearwater In-Store
Shearwater will play a Free In-Store on Wednesday, July 16th at 7:00 PM at Fingerprints in Long Beach, CA.
The in-store will be sandwiched between a string of dates opening for Coldplay!
Also, this is a very special day for Fingerprints because July 16th is their 16 year anniversary! Sounds like a Super Sweet 16 Birthday Bash to me!
(***Shearwater is not responsible for supplying a pimped out De Lorean with a big red bow)
Shearwater
Free In-Store
Wed. July 16th
7:00PM
Fingerprints Music
4612 E. 2nd St.
Long Beach, CA
*
RSVP to be on the guest list (562) 433-4996*
(Shearwater, live in Philadelphia, PA, June 2008,photograph taken from countfeed’s Flickr page)
7/9/08--New Tour Dates
(Shearwater, live in Fort Worth, TX, June 2008,photograph taken from nffcnnr's Flickr page)
On the heels of their wildly acclaimed 'Rook' LP/CD, Shearwater will be following their short jaunt with Coldplay and additional U.S. dates with a headlining tour starting in late August. They'll be joined by Merge Recordings Artists Wye Oak.
More dates will be confirmed soon.
Wed, Aug 27 Los Angeles Echo
Thu, Aug 28 San Francisco Great American Music Hall
Sat, Aug 30 Salt Lake City Urban Lounge
Sun, Aug 31 Denver Hi Dive
Mon, Sep 1 Albuquerque Launchpad
Wed, Sep 4 Austin Mohawk
7/3/08--Shearwater on WNYC and KCMP
(live at Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, 6/17/08 - photo taken from countfeed's flickr stream)
If you missed Shearwater on KCMP or WNYC back in June, you can now listen to these sessions online.
Shearwater returned for a second appearance on WNYC's Soundcheck on June 16. To listen, follow this link. The band played "Rooks" and "Leviathan, Bound" in a special stripped-down form.
On June 25 they performed live on The Current on Minnesota Public Radio in Minneapolis. Hear more live versions, as well as discussions on the history of the Falklands and the stigma against "twitchers", here.
6/11/08
-- New MP3: Leviathan, Bound Download the second MP3 from
'Rook,' entitled "Leviathan, Bound:"
5/30/08
-- Lyric book for 'Rook' available for download Rook is out on Tuesday...
download the lyrics here.
9/14/07
-- Jonathan Meiburg plays a solo show in Brooklyn "Keplermusic.com Presents...
Jonathan Meiburg + Phosphorescent
Thursday, September 27
Admission: $15, $10 minimum
Showtimes: 7:30pm
reservations are recommended
A limited audience of 50 people will be treated to a set by
Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg, who will be performing
songs from his critically-lauded albums." http://www.monkeytownhq.com/meiburg.html
7/5/07 —Venue Change for today's
free show in New York City Today's free Shearwater show,
originally planned to take place at Castle Clinton, has been
moved to Pace University's Schimmel
Center for the Arts. The band are still on at 7pm sharp.
The 4, 5 or 6 train to City Hall should get you there.
6/25/07 —Shearwater's free July 5 show in New York City Just in case you haven't been keeping abreast of the tour page, here's some news you can use. Matador's own Shearwater are playing a free show at Castle Clinton in lower Manhattan on July 5.
How do you get in?
No, you don't have to promise your first born to Matador, you just have to show up kinda early. Hard tickets will be distributed two per person, outside Castle Clinton on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 5:00pm on the day of the show.
5/19/07 —Ascentofpalosanto.com Chart the ascent of "Palo Santo," from demos to finished product, at (what else?) www.ascentofpalosanto.com. The site features streaming songs, along with written commentary from Shearwater's Jonathan and Howard. One of the coolest album websites we've ever bankrolled. It's like the album equivalent of Criterion Collection's ritzy bonus DVD material, only it's free.
4/13/07 —Shearwater's Jonathan on NPR Shearwater's own Jonathan Meiburg (the only man refered to as a "singer-songwriter-birder" in NY Times history) spends his non-musical time studying birds. Why? Because that's what ornithologists do. Recently, NPR featured a piece where he talks about his work tracking down albatrosses in the Falklands. Listen to it at this link.
2/22/07 —Shearwater signs to Matador Records
(l-r, Kim Burke, Howard Draper, Jonathan Meiburg, Thor Harris.)
In what proved to be one of our worst kept secrets in recent memory, Matador is pleased to confirm that we've reached agreement on a longterm-ish pact with one of the nation's most wildly original bands, Shearwater of Austin, TX.
On April 10, we'll be releasing a new, double-disc (CD and LP) verison of Shearwater's critically acclaimed 2006 full-length 'Palo Santo'. Disc one includes newly recorded versions of "La Dame et la Licorne", "Red Sea, Black Sea", "Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five", "Johnny Viola", and "Hail, Mary", while disc two includes 8 previously unreleased tracks.
The album art has been given the deluxe treatment as well, and perhaps we'll even have a jpg to share later today.
Impatient types can check out the new version of "Red Sea, Black Sea" (mp3) today.
03-15 Austin, TX - Central Presbyterian Church, 7:30pm (SXSW)
03-16 Austin, TX - Mohawk, 5pm
03-29 Austin, TX - Emo's *
03-30 Baton Rouge, LA - Red Star Bar *
03-31 Birmingham, AL - BottleTree Cafe *
04-01 Murfreesboro, TN - Casa Burrito *
04-02 Durham, NC - Duke Coffee House *
04-03 Wilmington, NC - Bella Festa *
04-04 Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel *
04-05 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *
04-06 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *
04-07 Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear's Place *
04-08 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
(* with Xiu Xiu)
(Shearwater, live in Philadelphia, PA, June 2008,photograph taken from 
