Palo Santo is the sound of a band reaching, and then achieving. Sometimes bands stick with a familiar, loved sound. Sometimes they reach and fall short.  Full text...

A wonderful combination of traditional and modern arrangements, with thorny nests of distortion and feedback lying underneath, Palo Santo is a Southern Gothic epic in the tradition of Will Oldham - see "Hail, Mary" - that's full of grace and beauty, and gathering storm clouds.  Full text...

Palo Santo is the fourth Shearwater full-length and the first to feature Meiburg's singing and songwriting exclusively. On albums past, Meiburg and his chum Will Sheff split the duties at the helm with pretty excellent results, but none of those three records match the bold purpose or concise outcome of Palo Santo.  Full text...

Palo Santo is the group's most gripping album yet, Meiburg's answer to the gauntlet thrown by his band mate.  Full text...

Simpler and more emotional lyrically, while more complex and moody musically, this marks a new plateau for the band, a height that requires a bit more patience, but offers greater rewards.  Full text...

While Meiburg's voice and a guitar, piano or banjo are at the center of most of these tracks, the instrumentation has suddenly fallen into place, intuitive now where it once diverted attention from previous albums' monotonous mood. Palo Santo is no less dark, certainly, but the songs breathe and swell much more naturally, with some of Meiburg's sharpest melodies yet.  Full text...

The songs are beautiful things: hard to catch hold of, but worth admiring just the same.   Full text...

Swinging from low-key folk to raucous rock, the album comes from a moody and rustic place. It conjures up visions of wild-growing grasses and rusted-out factories - a place where hope is tamped down and there's little left to do but murmur at the firmament and bellow songs at the indifferent sky.   Full text...

Its songs have the strident, portentous, overblown quality of prog rock at its most excessive.  Full text...