Hailing from the same US stable as The Mendoza Line, the Austin, Texas quartet Shearwater embrace a drowsier strain of melancholy on their second LP?all shuffling shades of piano, picked guitar and stings. Producer Brian (Daniel Johnston) Beattie filters just enough light to ward off any impending claustrophobia, while the contrast between ardent ornithology student Jonathan Meiburg’s falsetto and Okkervil River moonlighter Will Robinson Sheff’s upbeat crackle adds a subtle duality. Initially intended as a tongue-in-cheek paean to failure, they’ve scored big in the soundtrack-to-rainy-Sundays stakes. Damn it.
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