Rook (album)

Rook is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Shearwater. It was released on June 3, 2008, on the Matador Records 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 and Austin, Texas. The band toured in support of the album later in 2008. The album gained the band a spot on Entertainment Weekly's "Must List" on May 28.

Shearwater released the album on both CD and vinyl, with the vinyl version having a bonus track called "North Col". The cover art is by Kahn & Selesnick.

Co-founder Jonathan Meiburg 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.

Music
The album features harp, glockenspiel, woodwind and a hammer dulcimer 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, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 85 - indicating "Universal Acclaim" - based on 20 reviews. Pitchfork called it "impressive and uniformly gorgeous" and gave it an 8 out of 10 rating.

Singles

 * "Rooks" (May 27, 2008), 7" vinyl
 * 1) "Rooks" – 3:21
 * 2) "The Rainbow"  (Talk Talk cover; recorded live at the Crocodile Cafe, Seattle) – 9:47


 * The Snow Leopard EP (October 14, 2008), digital download
 * 1) "The Snow Leopard" – 5:02
 * 2) "So Bad" (Baby Dee cover) – 4:55
 * 3) "North Col" – 2:17
 * 4) "Henry Lee" (Nick Cave cover; recorded live from KUT) – 5:00
 * 5) "Rooks" (live from Radio K) – 3:14
 * 6) "I Was a Cloud" (live from Radio K) – 4:48
 * 7) "South Col" / "The Snow Leopard" (live at Florence Gould Hall, NYC) – 5:56