I keep thinking of one word to describe the night of music I experienced last Thursday, March 27 at The Horseshoe with
Shearwater, Death Vessels and Jesca Hoop. Beautiful. The music was full of beauty.
I'm a big fan of powerful, energetic songs. The more delicate songs that Shearwater spread throughout their set did add a dynamic to the set that made the powerful songs all the more powerful and the delicate songs all the more delicate. And beautiful.
I love the story behind their latest album,
Fellow Travelers. It's an album of covers of tunes by bands that they've toured with. It includes guest spots by many of these bands. The only rule was that a given musician couldn't play on his/her own tune. I think it's a cool concept both because it allows Shearwater to pay tribute to the gifted musicians they've shared stages with, and certainly have a great time in the studio with them, but it does it in a unique way. I can't wait to spend more time with the album. I wish they'd done St. Vincent's "Cheerleader" at the Toronto show.
Skip down and play Shearwater's version of Xiu Xiu's "I Luv The Valley OH!". It rocks in the best possible way. Definitely a show highlight. You can check out the rest of
Fellow Travelers over at
NPR.
They played a magnificent and, yes, beautiful
set. Here are my favourites from the show. I went in unfamiliar with a lot of Shearwater's body of work. I came out a fan.
Show opener "Hidden Lakes" from 2010's
The Golden Archipelago
"Animal Life" from their 2012 release
Animal Joy
"Breaking the Yearlings" from
Animal Joy
The immaculate rocker "Immaculate" from
Animal Joy
Certainly a show highlight, "I Luv The Valley OH!" originally by Xiu Xiu, from Shearwater's latest
Fellow Travelers
Main set closer "You As You Were" from
Animal Joy
One of the encore tunes, "Castaways" from
The Golden Archipelago
They then closed out with an energetic cover of Roxy Music's "Virginia Plain" and sent us on our way into the dark, dark night.
