Shearwater – The Golden Archipelago (Matador)

Trilogies are a hard thing to get right, you only have to look as far as the Matrix or the Godfather trilogies to note that the third part is often the one to avoid like the plague, in the case of The Golden Archipelago which is in actual fact the third part of a trilogy of albums comprising of ‘Palo Santo’ (2006) and ‘Rook’ (2008) it is quite the opposite.

Dedicated to the impact that humans have on nature and the environment the feeling runs deep through this one and none more so than in the beauty of enigmatic frontman Jonathan Meiburg’s stunning vocal display which carries this album to depths that just couldn’t be ventured with any other, you ultimately feel the passion and the intense relationship between this man and his pain and care for the world that we live in. Rook concentrated on flight itself but this third part turns its concerns (as the album artwork may suggest) to on life on islands and this is coming from a man who knows what life on islands are like having spent time as a researcher on islands all over the world including the Galapagos, Madagascar and even a few months in a remote Aboriginal settlement in Australia to which some of his dossiers have been made available, illuminating its themes via his studies.

That said the intimate and personal subjects that are delved deep into do not distract from the fact that this is an album full of majestically beautiful tracks that are rarely heard any more. Meiburg’s tearjerking falsetto’s on the epic ‘Uniforms’ sang over the sweeping string sections showcase what this band are really about and ‘Black Eyes’ has been one of my most played songs of late, 3 minutes 40 of pure bliss. After listening to this recently I had an urge to play one of my all time favourite albums Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden and I realized how remarkably alike the two vocalists are, this is something only a select few can match.

Without banging on too much about how great the vocals are we also have a powerful range of percussion showcased by the aptly named Thor Harris and sinister piano parts and string arrangements that complete an album that I can not only say would be their finest to date but also one of the highlights of my music collection of recent times.