FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 57:29 | 303 Mb
Indie Rock, Indie Folk
In December 2016, during Shearwater’s last live show, bandleader Jonathan Meiburg picked up a slip of paper from the stage: a prayer request card, left behind by a church that had rented the Bowery Ballroom the night before.
“At the time,” Meiburg recalls, “it seemed like a grim joke.” The thundering songs of 2015’s Jet Plane and Oxbo, were filled with fears for what the United States was becoming, and the recent election had confirmed them. Meiburg held the card up to the audience, asked the heavens for the swift (and natural) death of Trump and his enablers, and tore into “Hail, Mary,” the howling climax of 2006’s Palo Santo.
After that, it was time to take a breath. Shearwater had recorded six LPs in ten years for Matador and Sub Pop, and toured the US and Europe many times; as the band drove home, Meiburg resolved to find a new approach. “I felt hopeless,” he admits. “And I didn’t want to make hopeless music.”
Tracklist
1. Highgate (2:44)
2. No Reason (5:23)
3. Xenarthran (5:37)
4. Laguna Seca (4:49)
5. Everyone You Touch (3:47)
6. Empty Orchestra (5:07)
7. Milkweed (6:41)
8. Detritivore (5:35)
9. Aqaba (5:10)
10. There Goes The Sun (7:45)
11. Wind Is Love (4:55)