A protest record; the title comes from a moment when he looked out the window of a 737 as another plane, passing below, bisected a loop of the Mississippi. In recent years, Meiburg's been working as a writer as well as a musician, but he doesn't seem distracted here; in fact, he's never sounded more present on record. His voice is urgent, angry, and tender by turns, and the songs are as multi-layered as the production. "Quiet Americans", the obvious single, wraps a deep ambivalence inside a call to arms; "Only Child", perhaps the most straightforward song Meiburg's ever written, is shot through with warmth even as it describes a life fracturing under pressure. Shearwater have always worked on a huge canvas, but with Jet Plane and Oxbow, their reach finally equals their grasp.
A protest record; the title comes from a moment when he looked out the window of a 737 as another plane, passing below, bisected a loop of the Mississippi. In recent years, Meiburg's been working as a writer as well as a musician, but he doesn't seem distracted here; in fact, he's never sounded more present on record. His voice is urgent, angry, and tender by turns, and the songs are as multi-layered as the production. "Quiet Americans", the obvious single, wraps a deep ambivalence inside a call to arms; "Only Child", perhaps the most straightforward song Meiburg's ever written, is shot through with warmth even as it describes a life fracturing under pressure. Shearwater have always worked on a huge canvas, but with Jet Plane and Oxbow, their reach finally equals their grasp.