''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 States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the diving petrels, the prions, and the shearwa ...

. 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 apart ...

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 (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. 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 digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'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 m ...

, with the vinyl version having a bonus track called "North Col". The cover art is by

Kahn & Selesnick Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, both born in 1964, are a collaborative artist team who work primarily in the fields of photography and installation art. They specialize in fictitious histories set in both the past and future.< ...

. Co-founder

Jonathan Meiburg Jonathan Meiburg is an American musician and writer, best known as the lead singer and songwriter for Shearwater. Biography Meiburg was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 1, 1976. His father, Stan Meiburg, was an influential environmental pol ...

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''). Meiburg is an

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Music

The album features

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of 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 orche ...

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

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 reed ...

and a

hammer dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...

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 a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

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

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

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

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' 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, led by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drummer), Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). The group achieved early chart success with the synth-pop singles "Talk Talk (Talk Talk s ...

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 singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

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