Words: Scott Harrell

Photo: Steven Dewall

Listening to the linked themes and layered soundscapes that make up any given album by Texan outfit Shearwater, it's easy to get the impression that the band's music is the result of an extremely disciplined, possibly grueling process of conceptualization. According to vocalist and songwriter Jonathan Meiburg, however, sometimes the ideas just come when they're ready.

Even if he's engaged in something else. Like, say, conducting avian research at the bottom of the planet.

“There are videos on YouTube of me in the Falkland Islands, getting chased around by birds,” says the part-time ornithologist with a laugh. “I was there doing a bird survey. That was right about the time I was starting to think about the new album ... I remember hearing one little melodic idea in my head as I was falling asleep in my tent.”

That melody eventually snowballed into Rook, the fifth full-length release (and second for uber-hip imprint Matador Records) from an act originally conceived as a one-off collaboration between Meiburg and Okkervil River leader Will Sheff back around the millennial flip. Sheff bowed out after '04's Winged Life, allowing Meiburg – who up until this album's release also played multiple instruments for Okkervil – to emerge as Shearwater's driving creative force on the critically acclaimed 2006 outing Palo Santo.

Meiburg has followed the swirling, occasionally dissonant art-rock of Palo Santo with an equally evocative, yet very different, record. While it features some fuzzed-out guitar and bombastic drum work, Rook is filled out largely by acoustic instruments and subtly definitive string and woodwind arrangements, creating a vibe that's somehow both classically timeless and fantastical. Rook deposits the listener in a storyteller's universe that's neither truly past nor present, but contains sounds and sentiments that remain universally resonant.

“I wanted to make a record that sounded like you couldn't really place it in a particular time,” Meiburg says.. “I like that about this record, that it drops you in this world immediately, and stays there. It's fairly varied too, and it's pretty short, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.”

shearwatermusic.com