Shearwater - Jet Plane and Oxbow (2016)

On January 22nd, Shearwater will release Jet Plane and Oxbow, their new full-length studio album worldwide through Sub Pop. The album, which features the highlights "Quiet Americans" and "Only Child", was produced by Danny Reisch at studios in Austin and Los Angeles, and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.

This is definitely Shearwater's biggest and loudest record-it's easy to imagine these songs roaring from the stage-but it's also their most detailed and intricate one. Front man Jonathan Meiburg and producer/engineer Reisch spent two years crafting Jet Plane and Oxbow with help from drummer Cully Symington, longtime Shearwater associates Howard Draper and Lucas Oswald, and tourmates Jesca Hoop, Abram Shook, and Jenn Wasner.

"It's like joining us on an expedition," Meiburg says of the podcast, only half in jest. Along the way, he and Schaefer listen to field recordings of howler monkeys, musician wrens, and other strange creatures from remote parts of Guyana and Brazil, and they talk about everything from the ideas and influences that fed the new album to David Bowie's idea of "social protest music", the fearsome teeth of the vampire fish, and the last days of Lawrence of Arabia. Shearwater's longtime fans won't be surprised by Meiburg's wide-ranging interests, but new listeners will enjoy meeting an unlikely front man who seems to be part rock star, part David Attenborough.