While Okkervil River have launched themselves into the troposphere of indie fandom, Jonathan Meiburg’s more reflective vehicle Shearwater has apparently been slower in gathering a wide following.

Not that you’d know it on this occasion, a thoroughly enthused assembly crowding into the cosy Bush Hall for a performance that exceeded all expectations.

The plaintive environmental elegy ‘On The Death Of The Waters’ from their recent Rook set a deceptively contemplative tone, Meiburg’s unwaveringly high voice carrying out across a reverential hush. This was quickly transfigured into a howling cry, as on the addictive groove of ‘Red Sea, Black Sea’.

The rest of the band were no less riveting, regularly swapping instruments between songs, augmenting the performance with all manner of devices, notably bird sounds created by bowing everything from cymbals, vibraphone bars to what appeared to be the innards of a music box.

Apart from a couple of minor balance issues with Meiburg’s banjo, the only real problem with the set was that it felt as though it was over just as they’d really got going. No matter – the highlight of the evening for those who hung around was a second, acoustic encore over to the far corner of the hall where the grand piano had been unobtrusively stowed. This was a vital performance by a group at the height of its powers – wild, untrammelled stuff.

photo: Rachel Lipsitz