Shearwater Announce The New World, Share “Daydream Unbeliever” and “More And More”

Shearwater are back with news of their first album since 2022’s The Great Awakening. The Austin indie rock band has announced The New World, and it arrives with two new songs already out in the wild: “Daydream Unbeliever” and “More And More.”

The record is a self-released effort, put out with help from Secretly Distribution, and it follows six albums for Sub Pop and Matador. It was also crowdfunded and self-produced, which gives the whole project a more hands-on feel than the standard label-cycle rollout. That matters here, because frontman Jonathan Meiburg frames the album in blunt, almost weary terms.

“If you’re like us, you wake up feeling like the world’s on fire, and hoping you could reckon with it if you knew where to begin,” he says. “’Daydream Unbeliever’ and ‘More And More’ come from this uneasy place. If they help you feel a little less insane, welcome home.”

“Daydream Unbeliever” also brings in Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart, who plays gong on the track. The album’s guest list is wide-ranging beyond that, with appearances from multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, saxophonist and clarinetist Doug Wieselman, qanunist Farouz Zriek, guitarist Leo Abrahams, ngonist Mamadou Kouyate, percussionists Mahamadou Tounkara and Moctar Kouyate of Malian group Ngoni Ba, and drummer Thor Harris. You can hear “Daydream Unbeliever” and “More And More” below.

The album’s tracklist runs: “Even Song,” “More And More,” “Daydream Unbeliever,” “A Mink In The Dusk,” “The Only Sound I’m Afraid Of,” “The High Ranges,” “Slugs In The Marigolds,” “Anamnesia,” and “You And Your Dog.”

The New World is out 7/31 via Polyborus / Secretly. Pre-order it here.