RHUM

One of the world's great mysteries is why the name Jonathan Meiburg isn't breathlessly whispered in the same rarefied tones as, say, Joanna Newsom or Antony Hegarty. Meiburg is not only obsessed with birds (he has a Masters in ornithological geography - that's where birds live to you and me), but possesses a flawless tenor which swoops and dives like a feathered simile. It's both an unearthly and compelling sound.

This is a good thing, because The Golden Archipelago is not entirely free of problems. A concept album that seems to waver between the aerial war of the Pacific and something more primal and medieval, The Golden Archipelago can lean too far towards the 'baroque' in baroque pop, and frequently needs Meiburg's call to arms to get things rolling again. If it's an album decrying war, then it's antiwar as seen through the eyes of Terrence Malick: hazy, distracted and aslant.

Parts of this are, like any Shearwater album, simply gorgeous. When Meiburg is accompanied by a song structure lean and powerful enough to ride with his voice, it's stunning. At other points (especially towards the end), The Golden Archipelago threatens to spill over into melodrama. If I had to ride a unicorn with a rescued princess along a sun-drenched beach, I would totally do it with penultimate song 'Uniforms' as my soundtrack. And, while we're at it, how fantasy novel pimp is that album cover?

I thought Shearwater had cracked the code, or come damn close to it, with 2006's Palo Santo. Both 2008's Rook and The Golden Archipelago aren't so much a step forward from there as one shyly sideways.

3.5/5 stars

Standout tracks: Black Eyes, Hidden Lakes, Castaways

The Golden Archipelago is out now through Matador/Remote Control