Representative Albums: "Rook," "Winged Life," "Everybody Makes Mistakes"
Biography
Originally conceived as a one-off collaboration between Okkervil River's Will Sheff and Kingfisher's Jonathan Meiburg, Shearwater continues the tradition of detailed, reflective songwriting set by classic artists like Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen and contemporary indie rock songwriters such as Bill Callahan and Will Oldham. The group began after Sheff and Meiburg had known each other for just a week with the idea that the duo wanted to make an album called The Dissolving Room. The pair exchanged songwriting ideas through e-mail and were so pleased with the results that they decided to make their project into a permanent, touring affair. The Dissolving Room was released in early 2001 by the Grey Flat imprint. The following year Shearwater released another album, Everybody Makes Mistakes, and their third album, Winged Life, followed in 2004. Meiburg's influence over the direction of the band steadily increased over the years, and this trend continued on the band's fourth release, 2006's Palo Santo. The band moved from Misra to Matador that year, making way for the release of an expanded edition of Palo Santo in 2007, followed by Rook in 2008. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff, who began their collaboration as members of the critically lauded Okkervil River, founded Shearwater in 2001 as an outlet for quieter songs on which the two were working.
Shearwater's debut, The Dissolving Room, introduced Meiburg's now ex-wife Kim Burke on upright bass; shortly after, drummer and vibraphonist Thor Harris joined the band.
In May 2006, Shearwater released their fourth full-length album, Palo Santo, to much acclaim from critics and fans.[3] On April 10, 2007, Shearwater, now signed on to Matador Records, re-released a 2-disc edition of Palo Santo with bonus and re-recorded tracks from the original album.
Matador Records released the album Rook, on June 3, 2008.[4] The first single, "Rooks", is available for free as an MP3 from their record label.[5] As of August 2009 they are working on a new album, The Golden Archipelago.[6]
More information
Meiburg is a graduate student in ornithology, the study of birds. Shearwater is the name of a type of medium-sized seabird that is also shown on the cover of Winged Life.
Additionally, Shearwater is accompanied in concert by Jordan Geiger (of Hospital Ships) on coronet, synthesizer, and percussion, and Kevin Schneider (of Black Before Red) on keyboard, bass, and guitar
