FFFF Brief Interview with a Lovely Man: Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg

Tracing the overall trajectory of Shearwater, from 2001’s The Dissolving Room to your most recent release, Rook, each album displays an increasingly intricate musicality. Do you view this as growth, or just a shift in the band’s aesthetic?

Growth, I hope! I think it took about four records for us to start finding our way. There’s a lot of pressure on bands these days (and writers) to nail it the first time, but most artists I love didn’t do that. A lot of bands seem to deal with this by changing their names after a few records, but we didn’t.

Shearwater’s body of work is composed of recurring themes and some albums, (such as Palo Santo), are concept albums. Do you think the resurgence of concept albums lately—from The Decemberists to Mastodon—signals any cultural trends?

Maybe it’s that we all grew up, in the seventies and eighties, on the full-length LP as an art form, and we’re determined to postpone its death at the hands of the digital world. It’s still an interesting challenge to build an album as a complete piece rather than a couple of ‘hits’ and some also-rans.

I think every really good album, though, is a ‘concept’ album, in that it evokes a distinct world with its own rules that feels somehow indivisible, even if you can’t quite say why. That’s the kind of record I want to make. What I’m not interested in is Journey to the Center of the Earth, or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway -convoluted, linear productions with lots of characters and a story that forces you to follow a libretto. I’m not saying those records aren’t awesome in their own way, but to me if a concept’s too overthought or hermetic it can feel like there’s no room for an audience.

Jonathan, as an ornithologist, it seems only natural that birds play a role as supporting characters in your songwriting. But to what extent are your birds symbolic references for any listener, versus literal citations that only a birding enthusiast might truly understand?

I haven’t really put many birds in my songs. I stuck some in Rook, but they were common birds--crows, gulls, starlings--that I figured people would know. I don’t think I’ve ever name-dropped anything obscure. I think I’m more likely to quote a musical phrase from a song I like than give a lyrical nod to a hoatzin.

Let’s look at a Shearwater album as a theatrical production--possibly the playwriting debut of naturalist David Attenborough. If birds are the supporting cast, then the set seems to be the star. And that “set” is definitely not Austin, TX. It’s pristine, chilly, and starkly beautiful there. How/why do you get there from here?

No idea. I don’t know if it’s a place I’ve never been, or a place I’ve never left.

Your meticulous choirboy vocals create a signature sound for Shearwater; is this partially an expression of your personality, or just the natural consequence of having formal choral training?

You tell me; this is the voice I ended up with. I don’t know why. Those years in choir probably had something to do with it, but that was a long time ago…I feel like I’m still learning how to sing.

Shearwater is known as part of the vanguard of what NPR has dubbed the “literary rock band.” Is there anything you’re currently reading that you’d recommend to us?

I’m not sure about that tag, but a book I’ve loved lately is Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West. It’s an epic, beautiful, and sad account of Yugoslavia between the world wars. I was amazed I’d never heard of her.

You’re frequently compared to another Austin band- you know who we’re talking about. So tell us, if you were to score a sports-themed television show in the vein of Explosions in the Sky for Friday Night Lights, which sport do you think would best suit your music?

Ski jumping. Have you seen The Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner?

You’ve said the album you’re currently recording, The Golden Archipelago, is about islands. Do you view islands as isolated, lonely places, or as welcoming retreats—great shelters and social gathering places—the way a bird might?

An island can be a refuge or a prison, depending on your mood. I spent time on some pretty far-flung islands when I was a student, like the Falklands, the Galapagos, Baffin Island, the Chathams (off New Zealand), and a beautiful, eerie island near Tierra del Fuego called Isla de los Estados. Had some weird times out there. I tried to cram these places into the new record, along with some I haven’t been to, like Henderson Island or Tristan da Cunha.

Islands have a way of making life on land seem as fragile and unlikely as it actually is. The birds and people I met in these places were having a good time with their friends, but they were also clinging to some of the furthest extremes our planet has to offer. And the folks who end up in places like that long-term tend to be unable (or unwilling) to live anywhere else.

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Shearwater will be performing at Fun Fun Fun Fest on Saturday, November 7 at 7:30 on the Yellow Stage. We'll be unwilling to be anywhere else.
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