Shearwater returned this year with ‘The Golden Archipelago’ a vast and open record that demonstrates the band’s deep and meaningful outlook on the forever changing landscapes.

Bowlegs talked to lead singer Jonathan Meiburg about the new release, what it took to get the album finished and what he gets up to in his spare time

Jonathan: Where are you?

Bowlegs: In the UK.

Jonathan: So am I.

Bowlegs: You are coming down to Brighton soon, is that right?

Jonathan: Yes it’s the fifth or sixth date so we should still be full of enthusiasm for the new songs.

Bowlegs: ‘The Golden Archipelago’ is going down well here.

Jonathan:  Great, I tried to make a record that you would like and on that score I think I have succeeded, more so than with any other. I felt better about it at the end of the process.

Bowlegs: After ‘Rook’ what was the design brief for ‘The golden Archipelago’?

Jonathan:  Making a new record is like walking into an enormous darkened room, shining a torch around to try and find where you are. It’s very mysterious in the beginning. I knew that I wanted to record in a large room replicating the sound of some of my favourite recordings, with the drumming to come out like I hadn’t done before.  I had this title and have spent alot of time on islands and travelling, I knew I could somehow find a record in there. I knew it was fertile ground.

Bowlegs: So that was the game plan?

Jonathan: Yeah, I found this recording of the people of the Bikini Atoll singing their national anthem. Which is the sound that begins the record. (at this point Jonathan recites the national anthem. Which can be found in the albums accompanying dossier. Click here for details)

Bowlegs: Wow! That’s amazing.

Jonathan: I know and it’s a national anthem!

Bowlegs: So is this the backdrop? Is this what set you off?

Jonathan: Yeah, It’s a song of exile, of returning to the place you love. I think everyone feels this to a degree. But for these people it’s true, the Bikini Atoll is still radioactive. But thing that struck me most and I found the most moving was that the sound was not particularly sad, It’s full of life, energy and joy. And to me this is what art is – to take sorrow and turn it into joy or some strange mixture of the two. This is what I wanted to explore in the record. With the theme of exile.

Bowlegs: I felt the album was quite Apocalyptic at times?

Jonathan: That’s certainly in the air and water at the moment, and if you are a guilty liberal like me then you would like to see some settling of accounts.

Bowlegs: And it’s epic.

Jonathan: Trying to cram a lot of places into a small space, you need a pretty large room to accommodate that.

Bowlegs: so how will you reproduce the sound live?

Jonathan: You cant exactly; recording and live shows are different animals. In a live show – the crowd is there which adds so much energy, which you replace with detail in the studio. Actually I don’t know how we are going to pull off some of the instruments.

Bowlegs: Tell me about your involvement with John Congelton?

Jonathan: He was recommended by a friend and turned out to be a perfect co-conspirator for the record. He’s an excellent engineer, perceptive, quick and patient and never gets tired – a remarkable person.

Bowlegs: Does Ornithology feature in your life at the moment?

Jonathan: Not formally. Though tomorrow I go to Devon, I have binoculars in my bag.

Bowlegs: Does the band share your enthusiasm for birds?

Jonathan: Err, no. They are very patient though I can see them rolling their eyes when I point out every type of Raven on the West coast.

Bowlegs: Any camping trips coming up?

Jonathan: No, next is a whole lot of shows, what I really want to do is go to tropical South America. I haven’t been there.

Bowlegs: On your tour, do you choose your support?

Jonathan: Well we can, this time it’s David Thomas Broughton, he’s excellent, like a combination of Richard Thompson and Buster Keaton. He makes these beautiful, meandering, eerie songs, his performance is very physical. Not like anything you have ever seen.

Bowlegs: Tell me about the dossier?

Jonathan:  Well it was meant to look like a file you would find in a dead professors study, It was to be intriguing. When I presented it to the record labellabel they said  ‘How can we print a 75 page…’ so we cut it down and issued it separately. You can get it from Kickstarter.

Bowlegs: Do you think you would collaborate with Okkervil River?

Jonathan: I was in that band for 8 years, I enjoyed it but I don’t know when I would get the time now I also think musically we are so different.

Bowlegs: You mentioned earlier you favourite recordings?

Jonathan: Nina Simone live at the town hall is extraordinary, Talk Talk – Laughing Stock. You want to crawl in and live in it, such a beautiful intensity to it.  I keep listening at the moment to the series ‘The secret museum of mankind’ It has an integrity to it, and all recorded Mono.

Bowlegs: Thanks.

Jonathan: It was a pleasure talking to you.