Shearwater

Rightly recognized as one of 2006's best albums by the New York Times and NPR but generally overlooked commercially, Shearwater's Palo Santo receives a fresh chance at life with a deluxe double-disc reissue on their new label, indie heavy-hitter Matador.

Singer/songwriter Jonathan Meiburg sought to push into "darker and stranger" territory with Palo Santo, and he succeeded mightily, forsaking the evocative Americana of the band's early days for brittle piano ballads, foreboding rockers, impressive vocal gymnastics, and lots of lyrical abstraction. The latter shift results from Meiburg taking over songwriting duties completely, having split contributions on three previous albums with his narrative-friendly bandmate Will Sheff (the two also play together in Okkervil River).

For the expanded edition, Shearwater returned to the studio and re-recorded six tracks. Along with higher production value comes dramatic adjustments in tone, particularly on newly urgent rockers "Red Sea, Black Sea" and "Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five"—both of which outshine their originals.

The second disc is a disappointment, especially given the perfection of other Matador reissues. Rather than unearthing more unreleased gems like opening track "My Only Boy" or presenting some live recordings, the bonus material largely consists of unformed sound collages ("Every Hook, Every Eye," "Discontinuities") and non-revelatory demo versions of album cuts. Even if that disc never leaves its case, though, the reworked songs on the proper album offer enough variation (and improvement) to make the reissue an easy recommendation—even for those who picked up Palo Santo the first time around.

- Adam McKibbin
04.12.07

Somehow managing to be even chillier and darker than before, the reissue of Shearwater's Palo Santo is a vivid reimagining of the initial album. The 12 tracks found on the original have been married with another disc's worth of material, several of the songs have been re-recorded, and a sinister cockatoo now graces the cover where a wintry forest once stood. Palo Santo is the band's fourth album, and it's Shearwater's fiercest work by far. Lead singer Jonathan Meiburg, whose vocals hover somewhere between Jeff Buckley's operatic caterwaul and Antony's heartbreaking falsetto, sounds like a man unhinged -- a startling turn of events given the band's previous work, which was more contemplative and, to be perfectly honest, a little limp. This newfound fierceness is warranted. These are odd songs, full of weird abstractions, and they move at the pace of a fever dream. The lyrics can be somewhat insular, especially on tracks like "Johnny Viola" ("If you could ring the sky like a bell/Even such a sound would never suffice"); but Meiburg's urgent howl imbues his abstractions with meaning, giving way to a group of muscular, strangely lit songs that span brave, disturbing heights ("Red Sea, Black Sea") and sprawling, haunted lows ("Failed Queen"). If there's fault to be found with this reissue, it's in some of the additional material. The second helping of "Red Sea, Black Sea" feels just a tad superfluous, if only because the track was so potent the first time around. Not that the extra songs lack any merit whatsoever -- there's a stark, raw beauty in the second helpings of "Little Birdie" and "Failed Queen," and a return to these tracks feels justified. Small quibbles aside, the 2007 reissue of Palo Santo is an excellent expansion of the original -- it was strange and lovely to begin with, and it's only stranger and lovelier in this new edition. ~ Margaret Reges, All Music Guide