Shearwater The Dissolving Room (Grey Flat)

Shearwater

The Dissolving Room (Grey Flat)

The term "maturity" is bandied about often when discussing songwriting. It's generally considered an asset when a songwriter, whether Dylan, Van Zandt, or Elliott Smith, has an accumulation of experience to draw upon. Shearwater's local debut, a collaboration between Will Sheff of Okkervil River and Jonathan Meiburg of Kingfisher, wears the sincere and allegorical clothes of such sage craftsmen proudly, but leans more toward the confused coming-of-age adolescent perspective, in the process supplying more questions than answers. Then again, who needs answers when the questions are as elegant and emotionally charged as these? It's obvious the duo never took the time to resolve the specter of doubt and misgiving that permeates this album and ultimately gives it its identity. The Dissolving Room is a rough diamond of intimacy, adorned with flourishes of violin, accordion, harmonica, and pedal steel complementing the acoustic-guitar-and-banjo base. Sheff and Meiburg trade vocal duties, with Meiburg's smooth, often-falsetto tone contrasting Sheff's more haggard delivery. "Ella Is the First Rider" demonstrates why Sheff's lungs have been likened to those of Will Oldham, though Sheff can actually sing in a conventional sense, while still conveying the trail-dusty despair of the badlands. His "Sung Into the Street" and "Little Locket" paint prosaic portraits of uncertainty, the latter peppered with whispery instability. Meiburg's unforgettable "Military Clothes" follows the lead of nostalgic pedal steel work into a picaresque setting where one fateful day a young man's life changes suddenly like the tide of the seasons. A riveting debut.