With an upcoming album and tour dates, Jonathon Meiburg has decided to focus his sole attention on his main band Shearwater, and as a result, has chosen to leave his other creative outlet, Austin band Okkervil River.

While originally a side-project with River frontman Will Sheff, Shearwater’s growing exposure has led Meiburg to focus increasingly more attention to the band.

Meiburg says the split is “completely amicable”, and that Shearwater has grown to the point that it excludes his further participation in Okkervil. “This is just a logical extension of the way things have been going since ‘Palo Santo’”, Meiburg adds. “Shearwater’s increasingly demanding schedule has meant that I’ve performed with Okkervil less and less over the past two years, and with ‘Rook’ coming out in June, we all felt that it would be best if I completely disengaged from Okkervil rather than stretch myself too thin.”

As mentioned, Shearwater will release their fifth studio album, Rook, on June 3 via Matador Records and are also currently in the midst of a lengthly U.S. tour.

Okkervil River are also touring the globe, which will include stops at Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits later in the summer.

Check Out:
Shearwater - “Rooks”

Categories: News
Tags: Okkervil River, Shearwater