This year's much-anticipated Rook takes the band into realms both richer and stranger. Though a similarly haunted, elegaic mood - punctuated by flashes of dread and menace - pervades the album, Rook is its own animal, at once more accessible (the near-title track, "Rooks", anchored by Thor Harris' thunderous kick drum, a booming organ, and a stately trumpet line, could almost be mistaken for radio-friendly) and more accomplished than its predecessor, with a depth and grandeur that seem improbably packed into the album's tidy 35 minutes. [...]

News
9/14/07--Jonathan Meiburg plays a solo show in Brooklyn
"Keplermusic.com Presents...
Jonathan Meiburg + Phosphorescent
Thursday, September 27
Admission: $15, $10 minimum
Showtimes: 7:30pm
reservations are recommended

A limited audience of 50 people will be treated to a set by Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg, who will be performing songs from his critically-lauded albums."
http://www.monkeytownhq.com/meiburg.html

7/5/07 —Venue Change for today's free show in New York City
Today's free Shearwater show, originally planned to take place at Castle Clinton, has been moved to Pace University's Schimmel Center for the Arts. The band are still on at 7pm sharp.

The 4, 5 or 6 train to City Hall should get you there.

6/25/07 —Shearwater's free July 5 show in New York City
Just in case you haven't been keeping abreast of the tour page, here's some news you can use. Matador's own Shearwater are playing a free show at Castle Clinton in lower Manhattan on July 5.

How do you get in?

No, you don't have to promise your first born to Matador, you just have to show up kinda early. Hard tickets will be distributed two per person, outside Castle Clinton on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 5:00pm on the day of the show.

5/19/07 —Ascentofpalosanto.com
Chart the ascent of "Palo Santo," from demos to finished product, at (what else?) www.ascentofpalosanto.com. The site features streaming songs, along with written commentary from Shearwater's Jonathan and Howard. One of the coolest album websites we've ever bankrolled. It's like the album equivalent of Criterion Collection's ritzy bonus DVD material, only it's free.

4/13/07 —Shearwater's Jonathan on NPR
Shearwater's own Jonathan Meiburg (the only man refered to as a "singer-songwriter-birder" in NY Times history) spends his non-musical time studying birds. Why? Because that's what ornithologists do. Recently, NPR featured a piece where he talks about his work tracking down albatrosses in the Falklands. Listen to it at this link.

2/22/07 —Shearwater signs to Matador Records

(l-r, Kim Burke, Howard Draper, Jonathan Meiburg, Thor Harris.)

In what proved to be one of our worst kept secrets in recent memory, Matador is pleased to confirm that we've reached agreement on a longterm-ish pact with one of the nation's most wildly original bands, Shearwater of Austin, TX.

On April 10, we'll be releasing a new, double-disc (CD and LP) verison of Shearwater's critically acclaimed 2006 full-length 'Palo Santo'. Disc one includes newly recorded versions of "La Dame et la Licorne", "Red Sea, Black Sea", "Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five", "Johnny Viola", and "Hail, Mary", while disc two includes 8 previously unreleased tracks.

The album art has been given the deluxe treatment as well, and perhaps we'll even have a jpg to share later today.

Impatient types can check out the new version of "Red Sea, Black Sea" (mp3) today.

upcoming live activity:

03-15 Austin, TX - Central Presbyterian Church, 7:30pm (SXSW)
03-16 Austin, TX - Mohawk, 5pm
03-29 Austin, TX - Emo's *
03-30 Baton Rouge, LA - Red Star Bar *
03-31 Birmingham, AL - BottleTree Cafe *
04-01 Murfreesboro, TN - Casa Burrito *
04-02 Durham, NC - Duke Coffee House *
04-03 Wilmington, NC - Bella Festa *
04-04 Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel *
04-05 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *
04-06 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *
04-07 Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear's Place *
04-08 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
(* with Xiu Xiu)