Shearwater (band)

Shearwater
Shearwater in 2014
Background information
Origin	Austin, Texas
Genres	Indie rock, psych folk, folk rock
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Misra, Matador, Sub Pop
Associated acts	Okkervil River, Blue Water White Death, Whu Gnu, Swans, Angels of Light
Website	shearwatermusic.com
Members	Jonathan Meiburg Lucas Oswald Emily Lee Sadie Powers Josh Halpern
Past members	Kimberly Burke Thor Harris Will Sheff Christiaan Mader Mitch Billeaud Howard Draper Jordan Geiger Kevin Schneider Danny Reisch Abram Shook Jesca Hoop

Shearwater is an American indie rock band from Austin, Texas, led by multi-instrumentalist and lead singer Jonathan Meiburg, a singer-songwriter. The band's music is notable for its imagery based in nature, cerebral yet intimate melodic songs, as well as Meiburg's vocals.

In 1999, Okkervil River band members Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff founded Shearwater as an outlet for quieter songs on which they were collaborating. The band's name comes from the shearwater, a tribe of seabirds related to petrels and albatrosses. Meiburg, who holds a master's degree in geography with a focus on ornithology, picked the name mostly for the sound of the word.

Shearwater's debut, The Dissolving Room, introduced Meiburg's now ex-wife Kim Burke on upright bass; shortly after, drummer and vibraphonist Thor Harris joined the band. The addition of multi-instrumentalist Howard Draper plus tours and support dates with The Mountain Goats, Akron/Family and Blonde Redhead brought them exposure. Shearwater continued to produce music under this lineup in Everybody Makes Mistakes (2002) and Winged Life (2004), as well as the Thieves EP (2005). In 2005, Will Sheff left the band to concentrate on other projects.

In May 2006, Shearwater released Palo Santo, their fourth full-length album, to much acclaim from critics and fans. The song "Red Sea, Black Sea," was featured as an NPR Song of the Day. NPR's Stephen Thompson subsequently named Palo Santo as the best album of 2006.