Enjoy ‘Hidden Lakes’ below. Read our extensive review of The Golden… here.

MP3: Shearwater - Black Eyes

Our new guest blogger, Jordon Chiarelli, shares his thoughts on the album. Later this month, Shearwater will release The Golden Archipelago on Matador, their sixth LP since their inception, and the third in a series of theme linked albums (the first two being 2006’s Palo Santo and Rook in 2008). The Golden Archipelago is Shearwater’s most accomplished work to date fusing soft melodies with an array of instruments. Taking in a host of worldly sounds and influences, Archipelago begins with a tribal chant which then melts into a soft acoustic ballad, ‘Meridian’, and so begins a groovy journey along the coastal lines of a far-away paradise. Songs such as ‘Black Eyes’, the first single, and ‘Corridors’ go in a different direction than the album’s beginnings, taking a quicker up-tempo composition, which is almost Flaming Lips esque. The latter half of the record calms down, intertwining folk structures – blending piano and even a string section such as ‘Runners…’ (a personal favorite) and the slow, almost salsa dance-inspiring, ‘An Insular Life’. After the epic, Pink Floyd influenced ‘Uniforms’, the album ends with the warm aubade, ‘Missing…’, naturally bringing the LP full circle to the soft touch that kicked it all off. It takes its listener on a journey of the world, celebrating existence and our linkages to everything within it.

Visit Shearwater on MySpace.

MP3s: Shearwater - Black Eyes & Shearwater - Castaways

Download ‘Black Eyes’ at bottom.

Enjoy ‘Castaways’ here.

The Golden Archipelago will see daylight shortly.

MP3: Shearwater - Black Eyes

Download ‘Castaways’ at bottom.

The Golden Archipelago will see daylight shortly.

Visit Shearwater on MySpace.

MP3: Shearwater - Castaways

Brace yourselves for The Golden Archipelago.

It’ll see daylight on 2/23/2010.

In February, Shearwater dropped by WXPN.

Visit Shearwater on MySpace.

MP3: Shearwater - Rooks

Yesterday’s set included:

“Leviathan, Bound”
“Snow Leopard”
“Rooks”

Enjoy the full playback here.

Shearwater recently covered Clinic’s ‘Tomorrow’.

Visit Shearwater on MySpace.

MP3: Shearwater - Rooks

Enjoy last week’s superb take on ‘Tomorrow’ below. MP3 at bottom of post.

MP3: Shearwater - Rooks

10/20 @ Le Poisson Rouge.

Wanna attend with a guest?

If so, then e-mail us ASAP!

A winner will be randomly chosen on 10/3 @ NOON.

Learn all about Shearwater’s new EP here.

Visit Shearwater on MySpace.

MP3: Shearwater - Whipping Boy

Yesterday we shared their performance of ‘Rooks’…

Today, we have audio from the band’s interview with 101X.

Enjoy the full Q&A session here.

MP3: Shearwater - Whipping Boy

Enjoy this morning’s performance of ‘Rooks’ on 101X in the brief clip below.

MP3: Shearwater - Live On ‘The Interface’