''Rook'' is the fifth studio album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season. Description These tube ...

. It was released on June 3, 2008, on the

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City ap ...

label. The track "Rooks" was the first single from the album. The album was previewed on May 5, 2008 and May 29, 2008, at two special concerts in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. The band toured in support of the album later in 2008. The album gained the band a spot on

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

's "Must List" on May 28. Shearwater released the album on both CD and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

, with the vinyl version having a bonus track called "North Col". The cover art is by Kahn & Selesnick. Co-founder

Jonathan Meiburg Jonathan Albert Meiburg is an American musician and writer, best known as the lead singer and songwriter for Shearwater (band), Shearwater. Early life and education Meiburg was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 1, 1976. His father, Stan Meib ...

said he chose the title for the sound of the word and the fact that it has multiple meanings. The theme of birds recurs frequently with the band, from their name to titles of songs and albums (for example, "Sing, Little Birdie" and ''

Winged Life ''Winged Life'' is Shearwater's third full-length album, released on March 16, 2004, on Misra Records Misra Records is an independent record label based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The label is distributed by Redeye Worldwide. Founded in 1 ...

''). Meiburg is an

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Music

The album features

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and Ree ...

and a hammer dulcimer among more conventional instruments such as guitar and piano.

Lyrics

The lyrics of ''Rook'' are mainly focused on themes of nature and fairy tale.

Critics

The response from critics has been very positive. At ''

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

'', which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 85 - indicating "Universal Acclaim" - based on 20 reviews. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' called it "impressive and uniformly gorgeous" and gave it an 8 out of 10 rating.

Track listing

Singles

*"Rooks" (May 27, 2008), 7" vinyl # "Rooks" – 3:21 # "The Rainbow" (

Talk Talk Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981 by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drums), Paul Webb (bass), and Simon Brenner (keyboards). Initially a synth-pop group, Talk Talk's first two albums, '' The Party's Over'' (198 ...

cover; recorded live at the Crocodile Cafe, Seattle) – 9:47 *''The Snow Leopard EP'' (October 14, 2008), digital download # "The Snow Leopard" – 5:02 # "So Bad" (

Baby Dee Baby Dee (born 1953) is an American performance artist, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter from Cleveland, Ohio. Early career In the 1970s, Baby Dee began her musical career as a street performer, but soon decided to take work as an ...

cover) – 4:55 # "North Col" – 2:17 # "Henry Lee" (

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

cover; recorded live from KUT) – 5:00 # "Rooks" (live from Radio K) – 3:14 # "I Was a Cloud" (live from Radio K) – 4:48 # "South Col" / "The Snow Leopard" (live at Florence Gould Hall, NYC) – 5:56

References

External links

Shearwater's official siteMatador Records press release
(includes a promo mp3 of single "Rooks") * {{Authority control 2008 albums Shearwater (band) albums Matador Records albums