The band was formed by two members of Okkervil River, back-up vocalist and accordion/keyboard player Jonathan Meiburg and singer and guitarist Will Sheff, so they could write quieter songs. Beginning in 2005, Sheff lessened his role in the band, leaving Meiburg as the band's songwriter from Palo Santo on.
Band members today include Jonathan Meiburg, Thor Harris, Kim Burke, Lucas Oswald, with many contributions from others. The touring band in 2012 featured producer/drummer Danny Reisch and guitarist/vocalist Mitch Billeaud of The Lemurs and Christiaan Mader of Brass Bed.
To date, Shearwater has released nine full-length albums The Dissolving Room, Everybody Makes Mistakes, Winged Life, Palo Santo, Rook, The Golden Archipelago, Animal Joy, and Jet Plane & Oxbow as well as EPs Thieves and The Snow Leopard, and a split LP with Okkervil River entitled Sham Wedding/Hoax Funeral, as well as an album of covers of former touring partners, Fellow Travelers, released in November 2013.
As an ornithologist and writer, Meiburg has a unique perspective. The songs of Palo Santo were partly written at the Galápagos Islands in the footsteps of Charles Darwin. Rook was influenced by studies in the Falklands Islands and by the current mass extinction we are living through. The Golden Archipelago examined the destruction of island cultures in the 20th century and beyond. Animal Joy returned to more personal concerns; Meiburg stated repeatedly in interviews that the foundational idea is that life is most real when "the blood flows fastest and closest to the surface." Fellow Travelers started as a small home EP and expanded into a full album celebrating relationships with the other bands they've met along the way.
Meridian
Shearwater Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Of unnatural light
I took a long drive
Into the evening
On the barracks road
Past the generals' eyes
Down to the seawall
The enormous lull
Then a roar in the sky
And then the searchlights
Over the airfield
And over the ocean winging low
I saw the first wave
And the flares that fall
Like fireflies on the islands
In the boom and swell
From the waves to the heights
Reverberations
Of our old lives
Like a golden bell
That would ring through the night
And then the front moves
And we raise our eyes
In the silence of the islands
The lyrics to Shearwater’s “Meridian” describe a surreal journey into the unknown, as the singer takes a long drive towards the ocean, passing by generals’ eyes and arriving at the seawall. The atmosphere is set to create a sense of anticipation infused with apprehension, as the searchlights illumine the airfield which sets the backdrop for the approaching wave. Suddenly there’s a roar in the sky and the searchlights are directed towards the wave that’s now visible in the distance, and flares start falling like fireflies.
The imagery of the wave and the flares creates a feeling of both terror and awe, both of which are amplified by the physical sensation of the boom and swell, which causes reverberations to echo through the air. The singer notes that these sound waves are akin to golden bells that would ring through the night. The front moves through the scene as the singer and others raise their eyes in silence to truly grasp the magnitude of what they’re witnessing.
Overall, the lyrics convey a sense of tension and uncertainty, coupled with a deep admiration for the natural world in all its power and beauty. The tone is one of acceptance and respect, rather than one of domination over the forces of the universe.
Line by Line Meaning
In the burning daze
Amid the confusion and disorientation of change
Of unnatural light
Of artificial sources of illumination
I took a long drive
I traveled a path of significant duration
Into the evening
As the day waned and darkness encroached
On the barracks road
Down a street lined with military housing facilities
Past the generals' eyes
Through the scrutiny of high-ranking military officials
Down to the seawall
To the edge of the land where it meets the sea
Where the waves stand by
Where the motion of the ocean pauses at the shoreline
The enormous lull
The great calm between tumultuous events
Then a roar in the sky
An eruption of activity above, in the heavens
And then the searchlights
Beams of concentrated light seeking out distant targets
Over the airfield
Above a site used for the operation of aircraft
And over the ocean winging low
Flying close to the surface of the water
I saw the first wave
I witnessed the opening move of unfolding events
And the flares that fall
Burning lights descending from the sky like meteors
Like fireflies on the islands
Like flickering, luminous insects in the darkness
In the boom and swell
Within the powerful and surging rhythm of the ocean
From the waves to the heights
From the turbulence of the water to the expanse of the sky
Reverberations
Resonating echoes of the past
Of our old lives
From the experiences and memories of our former selves
Like a golden bell
Resounding clearly and with great significance
That would ring through the night
Persisting through darkness and adversity
And then the front moves
A change in the direction and intensity of events
And we raise our eyes
And we look up, hopeful and expectant
In the silence of the islands
Amid the quietude and isolation of a remote locality
Contributed by Grayson K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.