Shearwater Concert

We really enjoyed Shearwater last weekend, especially opener Jesca Hoop, who was fun and kind of naughty and a great "addition" to the band, despite some technical issues. I saw this interview with Shearwater about their recent album. Some of the tracks included:

‘Natural One’ by Folk Implosion
“People who were in high school or college when the movie ‘Kids’ came out [in 1995] know this song,” Meiburg says of the Lou Barlow-penned track, which was on the art-house shocker’s soundtrack. “Then it kind of vanished. I thought it would be fun to resurrect it by covering it very precisely.”

‘Ambiguity’ by David Thomas Broughton
“David is very unusual,” Meiburg says of the British folk singer. “When we toured with him, he would wander into the audience and start knocking things over, or engage in long, uncomfortable staring matches with the audience.”

‘Cheerleader’ by St. Vincent
“I tried to imagine it was a song about the frustration of being a perennial opening band,” he says. “I don’t want to be ungrateful, but opening can be a frustrating experience. It would be nice to be the team that people are cheering for, and not just the cheerleader.”

‘Our Only Sun’ based on ‘Deeper Devastation’ by Jesca Hoop
“She’s our official fellow traveler for these shows,” Meiburg says of the singer-guitarist, who is opening for Shearwater and playing in the band. Her music is “very ornate and precise — unlike anything else I’ve heard.”

‘Hurts Like Heaven’ by Coldplay
In 2008, Shearwater opened the first four shows of Coldplay’s massive American tour. “The experience of getting up in front of 20,000 people who don’t want to see you is something I recommend to everyone in life,” Meiburg says with a laugh. “It was like opening for Cirque du Soleil.”

‘A Wake for the Minotaur’ by Shearwater
This duet with singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten, whom Shearwater supported in 2012, is the only original on the album. “It’s about how touring makes you feel that you and the people you’re traveling with are the only three-dimensional beings in the world,” he says. “Everything just flies away from you at such a speed.”

‘Mary Is Mary’ by Wye Oak
“It’s a really beautiful melody,” Meiburg says of the Baltimore band’s song. “I kept it in the same key, I just took it an octave down from where [singer] Jenn [Wasner] has it. It’s the lowest vocal I’ve ever recorded.”

‘F—ed Up Life’ by The Baptist Generals
“Fellow Travelers” culminates with an upbeat yet dark song by one of Meiburg’s favorite unsung bands. “The characters on this record, many of them are sort of broken or disturbed in some way,” he says. “The answer in this song is that it doesn’t matter.”