Shearwater
Winged Life

Shearwater is a discovery that the average indie-rock listener makes while spending boring afternoons roaming the internet in search of uninteresting news about Okkervil River. Then they discover that for years Will Sheff and Jonathan Meiburg have been cultivating a parallel project to the band, with the ornithological name Shearwater. Because Meiburg is the true leader of Shearwater, and Meiburg is passionate about ornithology, hence the title of this album, its cover, but thankfully not its sounds. New age music does not dwell here.

It is certain that, in this 2004 album, Shearwater does not yet appear as an independent entity, distinct from Okkervil River, not only because five of the twelve tracks are sung by Sheff. Listen to "My Good Deed": it could make a splendid figure on any Okkervil album, showing off its acoustic folk, its nostalgic melody, its somewhat limping and disheveled crescendo. Or listen well to "A Makeover" or "The Convert": Okkervil River in its best form. Perhaps less convincing are the tracks where Sheff slows down too much, like "The Set Table" or "Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine" (strange, because Sheff's beautiful titles usually hide beautiful songs). But that's the fabric, that's the style.

The fact is that in this "Winged Life" we sense the coexistence of two different albums: Sheff's, with totally Okkervil-like sounds, and Meiburg's, more wintry and sophisticated. The difference is immediately noticeable, even on first listen, in the opposing nature of the two voices: Sheff's, warm and crooked, Meiburg's, almost androgynous and Byzantine. From this emerge more sinuous lines, more complex melodies, and in general a less accommodating style, more detached. Not, mind you, less fascinating. One only needs to get lost among the autumn spans and arpeggios of "A Hush" or in the beautiful melodic bursts of "St. Mary's Walk" (from a Nordic seafront) and "The World In 1984", Beatles-esque folk-rock punctuated by an evocative piano full of dead leaves. And it is fascinating to hear how the same nostalgic indie folk takes on different shades in the two interpretations, with colors slowly blending into each other (and it’s no coincidence that the album's sequence foresees an almost geometric alternation between the two voices), like the tones of a sunset, from warmer to cooler.

The dual nature of the album, in short, ends up being more of an enrichment than a weakness. "Winged Life" is an album that feels good, that smells of sunny autumns, that captures a band ready for the big leap. A leap that was the recent "Palo Santo"; but that's another story, cold, depressed, and darkened. Meanwhile, there's still some warm sunshine, and it’s worth looking at it from the winged and light perspective of this album.