Shearwater w/ Wye Oak and Hospital Ships

An Austin group once best known for its ties to Okkervil River, Shearwater sprouted its own wings mid-decade, molding the intimate folk-rock of singer Jonathan Meiburg into dramatic nature cries that erupt in surprisingly forceful ways. The group’s latest, The Golden Archipelago, is gorgeous and fierce in equal measure, with Meiburg unleashing his choir-boy bellow in service of a song cycle about life on an isolated island. Openers Wye Oak garnered instant Yo La Tengo comparisons for their coed dream-pop, but they distinguished themselves on last year’s striking sophomore album The Knot, purging anything twee about their sound to double down on baleful alt-country twang and untamable loud-soft guitars.