Seismic Synths Accompany a Poignant Political Protest
The Shearwater is at once both a species of low-flying seabird and an intricate, versatile band that channels all the atmosphere you might expect from a graduated Ornithologist who has undertaken months of seabird study in the Galapagos, Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego and New Zealand. Initiated in Austin in 2001, Shearwater was founded by musical collaborators Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff as an outlet for the two Okkervil River members to purse a subtler, soothing sonic sensibility. With Sheff no longer involved in order to pursue other projects, Shearwater has employed a revolving door of comrades and collaborators, with Jet Plane and Oxbow seeing involvement from producer Danny Reisch as well as welcome contribution from composer Brian Reitzell (supervising films such as The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette and The Brothers Bloom as well as drumming for Air) in addition to Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, drummer Cully Symington, longtime Shearwater associates Howard Draper and Lucas Oswald and tourmates Abram Shook and Jesca Hoop.
The follow-up to 2012 studio album Animal Joy, Jet Plane and Oxbow (Subpop) has been described by Meiburg as a protest album lyrically, a rebuke to Americans for being a complacent cog standing by while the world suffers. Sonically the album is an amalgamation that leans on gear gleaned primarily from the 80s (with exercised restraint), with Meiburg playing a strat instead of the usual older hollow body, heavy use of a Korg lambda (the first sound you hear on the record) and slightly tweaked rototoms.
“Quiet Americans” is the second of eleven tracks that kicks in after “Prime,” and it’s the track that resonates most like a single. Mere seconds pass before Meiburg chimes in with sonorous, compelling vocals. “Quiet Americans” is urgent, commanding and built over the backbone of a simple yet charged melody, embellished here and there with flourishes of synth and tinkling keys. Somewhat in the vein of Information Society, the song has a hook that can’t quit, rounded out at the end with Meiburg crooning “The only light is the day yet to begin / The only sign of the lives in silhouette / The only sound is the rushing of the wind / The only light is not the only life,” and it’s easy to imagine this song translating to a live crowd in a seismic way.
“Backchannels” is another track that feels mythical while still remaining personal. With an atmospheric opening that conjures a seeping fog, quickly joined by percussion before vocals come in swinging, “Backchannels” is another testament to the theme of immediacy that spans the entire album. With lines like “That stubborn light pools in your heart / Warm and nacreous baby” and “I know it feels like all the guns of a battery trained right at your eyes,” the track is dripping with imagery that feels like the pointed finger of accusation coming from the one that loves you most.
Jet Plane and Oxbow succeeds at channeling the vigor and untapped magic of 80s tech without overdoing the sentiment, combined with poetic lyrics full of imagery that captures the pitfalls and triumphs that are woven into the morality of being an American in our time. Grandiose and compelling with the promise of a transcendent live delivery, Jet Plane and Oxbow is an intricate vignette of unrest that translates just as well in the privacy of your own reflection.
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