Compact Disc/mp3 album review no. 1: Rook by Shearwater

I raved about these guys last year, during my semester abroad, when I first encountered "the snow leopard" on pitchfork's list of top 100 tracks of 2008. They're slow, pensive, and really interesting. Shearwater hails from Austin Texas, formed in 1999 and have been active on a large scale since 2001. Like I said, I hadn't even heard of them until 2009 and haven't investigated their earlier stuff yet, like the Theives EP from 2005, but was really impressed by their first full album "Rook".

The lead singer's vocals (Jonathan Meiburg) can be described in no other way but angelic. He has mastered the art of changing the dynamics (literally dynamics, as in volume) of his voice in the most dramatic of ways. When he sings in a soft falsetto he reminds me slightly of Thom Yorke but then he also has the ability to belt out loud, tortured-sounding, vocals when the song calls for it like in the song "Century Eyes". Just as their singer's vocals alternate between quiet and loud so does the band's music. Besides "the snow leopard", the best song to highlight the band's penchant for playing with dynamics would be "on the death of the waters" which starts off very quiet and slow but momentarily explodes into loud guitar playing and drumming at about 1:35. Just as I've compared Meigburg to Radiohead's stylings I'll also say the same about the music but only because I feel the same way after listening to the music in either of these bands. Unlike Radiohead, there are essentially no electronic instruments in the ensemble besides bass and guitar but I guess I'd say that it evokes the same kind of quiet melancholy as Radiohead does, punctuated by periods of not-so-quietness. They're incredibly original and I can't wait for them to put out another album or EP.

I'll have to go back and listen to their earlier albums as well.