Pitchfork

The SAT/GRE season has passed for the year, so this analogy isn't so much directed at harried college applicants as much as the people who make the tests. After all, standardized tests could stand some indie spicing, right? So, here goes...

Shearwater:Okkervil River::Sunset Rubdown:Wolf Parade.

Testmakers and curious onlookers alike should note that Shearwater, who'll be releasing their fourth album Palo Santo on May 9 through Misra Records, has always played a rather arbitrary second fiddle to Okkervil River, even though both groups shared the same primary songwriters (see the second part of the analogy for another example). This time out, however, Jonathan Meiburg has wrested the Shearwater songwriting duties entirely from his Okkervil colleague Will Sheff, and consequently Palo Santo promises to be a new direction for the band.

But instead of relying on press kit hyperbole, you can listen to a preview mp3 of "Seventy-four, Seventy-five" on Misra's website and meanwhile we'll take Meiburg's less prolix word for it. On the Shearwater message board back in January, Meiburg responded to an eager fan by saying, "I think it's safe to say that it's pretty different from the other Shearwater records. But I think you will like it. I like it." And really, is there anything else to be said until May 9?

Oh yeah, the tracklist:

01 La Dame et la Licorne
02 Red Sea, Black Sea
03 White Waves
04 Palo Santo
05 Seventy-four, Seventy-five
06 Nobody
07 Sing, Little Birdie
08 Johnny Viola
09 Failed Queen
10 Hail, Mary
11 Going Is Song