Great Album: The Golden Archipelago by Shearwater

The air is thick on Shearwater new album The Golden Archipelago. As a result, the album acts as the aftermath from the roaring waves of 2008 breakthrough album Rook, offering new tidings and a seamless transition in flow. The same dynamic is present on the new album, specifically in the song Meridian, but the lagging moment is accompanied by layers of vibration And whispering echoes, which ultimately lengthen the arrangements and offer a more forceful cliffhanger, until Meiburg voice finally erupts. The appreciation Meiburg has for peripheral life is just one part of what he ultimately wants to convey on the new album. not only suggests a possible glimpse into the dim future of mankind piercing, but also one relating to the state in which Bikini Atoll, one of the many islands Meiburg visited, was turned into a testing ground for the atomic bomb during World War II. The album even opens with their national anthem, setting the tone on how nature is not always in harmony with human nature. Even the album cover features a figure clothed in ghostly garments amid the zenith of the sun, which carries over to the same picture at night when opening the liner notes. Whatever it was Meiburg gained from his travels he managed to translate it into music with delicate ease, and like the ever-present bird motif soaring to new heights, the band is gliding weightlessly, but this time at sea.