Customer Reviews

Winged Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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Though Okkervil River and Shearwater share band members (most noticeably singer-songwriters Will Sheff and Jonathan Meiburg), and the lyrics of both bands tend to sound a little like Raymond Carver stories (I'm not kidding), they differ sharply in tone. Okkervil River: Occasionally rollicking with patches of darkness and yearning. Shearwater: Drifting, damaged and picking up the pieces.

WINGED LIFE is something new. It's like Shearwater has picked-up the pieces and started to build. Still a very different band from Okkervil River, WINGED LIFE finds Shearwater exploring and expanding and generally developing into something new. Like a mopey guy who's finally managed to distill knowledge from his sadness, and move on (with a touch of melancholy) into an uncertain future.

Anyway, whether this new mood garners a third band name is up to the boys in charge. But whatever they're called, you should check out the full body of work that these musicians are producing. It's exciting and vital and beautiful.

Hands down one of the most beautifully crafted pieces of music you'll ever here this year, that is, if you choose to pick up a copy. Be sure not to loan this one out as you'll never get it back.
Amazing writing and studio performance, production guided by the amazing Matt Pence (centro matic).

...but not in a bad way. In fact not as a negative description at all, but rather the way this melodic razor cuts. The perfect album to fall asleep or commit suicide to. Stunning and haunting. Meiburg's distant vocals, paired with Sheff's, creep out over lush and dreamlike landscapes of sound. I cannot seriously do this group justice in my pathetic, fan ravings.