Name: Animal Joy
Brand: Shearwater

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

spcd957

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Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Sub Pop Label of the Month - September 2016 - Free 12" Sampler with purchase while stocks last

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2012-02-27

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

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1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Shearwater

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Sub Pop

Shearwater is an indie rock band formed in Austin, Texas in 2001. The band was founded by Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff, who were already acquainted from their time together in Okkervil River. They were later joined by Kim Burke on bass and Thor Harris on drums and vibraphone. With the addition of Howard Draper, Shearwater transformed into a tightly focused rock band.

Known for their unique sound and powerful performances, Shearwater has drawn comparisons to other artists such as Midlake, Okkervil River, Great Lake Swimmers, and Damien Jurado. Their music captures a sense of introspection and emotional depth that resonates with listeners.

With influences ranging from folk to indie rock, Shearwater's discography showcases their versatility and artistry. Fans of bands like Phosphorescent, Other Lives, Magnolia Electric Co., Songs: Ohia, Ramona Falls, Sun Kil Moon, Lost In The Trees will find themselves drawn to the captivating melodies and thought-provoking lyrics of Shearwater's music.

Short for "Subterranean Pop" 

The label was an outgrowth of [a=Bruce Pavitt]'s Olympia, WA based (print) fanzine, which became the well respected cassettezine of the same name. 

After his move to Seattle he ran a music column in the Seattle Rocket also called Sub Pop.

After initial forays into the record label world with a [a=Green River] 7" (not officially on Sub Pop) and the Sub Pop 100 LP, the label exploded onto the indie scene with four influential colored vinyl 7"s which included [a=Mudhoney]'s "Touch Me I'm Sick" which made the year-end top 10 playlist of nearly every music journalist in the world.

Subsequent hyping of the label in the English music press put them on the map, and grunge was born.

Label-Code is 03159; rarely found printed on releases (basically only on releases manufactured/licensed by Warner/WEA Germany)

Back In Stock

After releasing a pair of gorgeous, languid collections of naturalist-themed chamber pop Shearwater delivers a sealskin boot to the head with the measured but primal Animal Joy, their eighth studio album and first for the Sub Pop label. Dense, powerful, wild, yet immaculately rendered, Animal Joy blends the expansive, cinematic scope of contemporaries like Other Lives and the National with the arty drama of "San Jacinto"-era Peter Gabriel. Jonathan Meiburg's mighty falsetto achieves a richness it has only hinted at on previous outings, and the production, provided by the band along with fellow Texan Danny Reisch (White Denim, Brass Bed), is big-budget slick without feeling souless and sterile. Front loaded with four of its most immediate pleasures ("Animal Life," "Breaking the Yearnings," "Dread Sovereign," and "You as You Were"), the 11-track collection retains the group's penchant for crafting organic, melancholy narratives infused with ecological/mythological imagery, but the pace, due in no small part to the spectacular, precision drumming of Thor Harris, has been significantly tweaked, where even the quietest number, the six-and-a-half minute "Insolence," builds to a satisfying sonic catharsis. 

Animal Joy

Music GB

Buy Shearwater - Animal Joy (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.