Fellow Travelers
This new 10-song collection, Fellow Travelers, finds Shearwater covering Xiu Xiu, Coldplay, Clinic, St. Vincent, Folk Implosion, and others. Interestingly, the title seems to let you know who Jonathan Meiburg and company see as their role models and their peers.
An intimate, nostalgic covers-only affair for a small minority. Ultimately, it does the job it's supposed to – that of a stop-gap release between records.
Listeners who are unfamiliar with any of the definitive versions of the nine covers that appear on Shearwater's eighth studio outing will be forgiven for thinking that they're listening to Jonathan Meiburg-penned originals.
Like live albums and B-side compilations, cover version LPs usually occupy a fringe position in an artist’s discography, and Fellow Travelers is no different. But as far as stopgaps go – bridging last year’s Animal Joy and next year’s in-the-works follow-up – Shearwater’s ten-song tribute to/collaboration with past touring partners is more attractive than most.
Fellow Travelers is perhaps more interesting as a concept than as a record. Its premise is pretty damn neat: Shearwater recorded covers of songs by bands they'd toured with in the past, while collaborating in the studio with members of some of those bands
Album review: Clash covers 'Fellow Travelers', the new album from Shearwater, released on Sub Pop.
Fellow Travelers is a missive to those other bands trudging the tour circuit, and it’s an ambitious one that invites listeners to travel along.
Shearwater - Fellow Travelers review: And for the first time, Shearwater sound like mere passengers to the music