The New World

Jonathan Meiburg calls this “the wildest ensemble we’ve ever assembled,” which mighty be an understatement. But it feels exactly right for an album whose nine songs unfold like a globe-spanning journey to the heart of a deep mystery, seen through a kaleidoscope of emotions: hope, confusion, regret, tenderness, awe. Sometimes all at once.

There probably aren’t any hits here, or even gestures toward them. But it’s nearly mpossible not to listen to the end of the record once you dive in, and its songs ring with clarity, urgency and depth. (Meiburg’s voice sits boldly at the front of the mix, except on one track—but to reveal the song would ruin one of the album’s best surprises.)

The New World is also a risk that paid off. After years of working with record labels, Shearwater chose to crowdfund the album and release it themselves, letting them assemble it across four years of traveling, fieldwork, and collaboration. (It was recorded in London, Berlin, New York, and the band’s Texas headquarters, with Duszynski as chief engineer and additional production by Leo Abrahams; it was mixed in Los Angeles by Danny Reisch.) Meiburg’s field recordings are woven throughout, stretching the record’s geographic range even further; there are German church bells and blackbirds, Tasmanian rivers and forest ravens, coyotes in the California mountains.

A1 Even Song
A2 More And More
A3 Daydream Unbeliever
A4 A Mink In The Dusk
A5 The Only Sound I’m Afraid Of
B1 The High Ranges
B2 Slugs In The Marigolds
B3 Anamnesia
B4 You And Your Dog