Shearwater
Palo Santo [Expanded Edition] (Matador)
Shearwater’s pivotal fourth album, Palo Santo, released last year on then-local indie label Misra, signified a transcendental transformation for the Austin ensemble, establishing them as a viable, free-flowing entity apart from Okkervil River and allowing Jonathan Meiburg to soar as the band’s cardinal lead singer and sole songsmith. Featuring complete re-recordings of some of the album’s strongest suites, this Matador-backed expanded reissue is another transformation, one that displays the full breadth and beauty of Santo‘s peaks and valleys only hinted at on the original. “La Dame et la Licorne” traces the graceful flight of Meiburg’s fragile vocals, not unlike “Sing, Little Birdie” where his vibrato flutters between Antony and Roy Orbison, while “Red Sea, Black Sea” plunges to newfound depths on the pellucid banjo pluck and atonal arrangements that permeate the background. The grandiose pianos and horns in “Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five” and “Johnny Viola” ring more clearly this time around, and the album’s apex, “Hail, Mary,” ascends for an additional minute, reaching “A Day in the Life” proportions. The remastering of the remaining tunes is no less revelatory, especially in light of disc two’s diluting demo versions. Also included is a haunting new narrative, “My Only Boy,” experimental extras “Every Hook, Every Eye” and “Discontinuities,” and a cover of Skip James’ “Special Rider Blues,” where Meiburg’s falsetto is as expressive as his slow-motion guitar work. Shearwater’s earned this winged life.
This article appears in April 20 • 2007.