Review Summary: ‘Animal Joy’ sees Shearwater fall a whisker short of past glories
`The Golden Archipelago' marked the final act of Shearwater's `island arc' trilogy of albums and it was always going to be interesting to see what approach the band would take next; would they go even further into the realms of the concept album or make a play for mainstream acceptance, adopting a more conventional sound. On the evidence presented here it would appear they’ve taken the latter approach, though Shearwater remains an act who just can't help but flirt with the notion of a grand artistic concept.
So change is most certainly afoot in the world of Shearwater; upon first hearing the intro to album opener `Animal Life' the artist that sprung to my mind was Jonsi (of Sigur Ros fame) whose solo album contained a number of similarly high tempo tracks with propulsive military style drumming and insistent vocals. That release saw an artist reenergised, revelling in his newfound artistic freedom; similarly here Shearwater sound freshly unburdened, bursting out of the traps with gleeful abandon. ‘Animal Life’ works well as an opening statement of intent, for the first time in the band’s career there’s an unmistakable commercial sheen in evidence and with a few tweaks to the lyrics and vocal arrangement you could almost imagine a radio mainstay like Coldplay covering this one.
This direct approach continues with `Animal Joy' playing host to three of the most conventionally rocking songs of the band's career so far; `Breaking the Yearlings' is drum driven and tribally intense, `Immaculate' is an all-out breakneck assault and `Pushing the River' is underpinned by tight bursts of drums (think `Morning Bell' by Radiohead). There is certainly a great deal of pleasure to be had listening to the band cut loose on this material but it’s hard can’t shake the nagging suspicion that Shearwater are still better suited to delivering their stock-in-trade of grandiose epics and restrained, minimal beauties. In particular Meiburg's voice is so distinctive and powerful I prefer him to exercise some restraint, here he sticks to his full power mode for much of the material.
Fortunately there are highlights to savour that play to what I see as Shearwater's obvious strengths; the piano led `You as You Were' provides a perfect platform for Meiburg's full vocal range, the repeated refrain of `I am leaving the life' resonating powerfully; `Insolence' is the only composition to break the five minute mark and is a welcome exercise in build and release that adds some hugely important depth to `Animal Joy', an experimental offering to really sink your teeth into; and `Star of the Age' is worthy of mention, the arrangement and vocal melodies reminding me of Bowie to the extent that it’s difficult not to imagine the Thin White Duke crooning over this one. He’s hardly a poor choice of artist to crib from and it remains a classy finale.
While it’s encouraging to hear Shearwater breaking into new territory this is a transitional album lacking the perfectionist touch evident in their best work, so for now `Rook' remains closest to a perfect distillation of Meiburg's musical vision to date, though the fearless experimentation and energy displayed here certainly bodes well for the future.
