Shearwater’s The Golden Archipelago completes a triptych of albums that started with 2007′s Palo Santo and continued via 2008′s Rook. You’ve had a listen to the collection’s sing-it-from-the-mountains anthemic eighth track “Castaways.” Things get darker but no less wind-blown or bombastic with “Black Eyes.” A thematic explanation via Matablog.

Every track on The Golden Archipelago is associated with an island somewhere around the world, in this case the buried South Pacific city of Nan Madol, off the eastern shore of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. The name means “spaces between” — it was actually a series of artificial islands linked by a network of canals, and inhabited until about 1500 A.D. The city was gradually abandoned and exists today in a state of decay and can only be visited by governmental permission.

This is what that sounds like.

• Shearwater – “Black Eyes”Download

The Golden Archipelago is out 2/23 via Matador. As we’ve mentioned in the past, there’s a 75-page full-color 8 x 10.5″ Jonathan Meiburg and Mark Ohe-designed dossier “that explains and enlarges upon the themes of the album.” You can get that one via Kickstarter. A smaller edition will come with the album. Take a look at all of this, if you haven’t. Fittingly, they’re traveling:

03/13 – Austin, TX @ Red 7 #
03/24 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl %
03/25 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 %
03/26 – Washington, DC @ Rock N Roll Hotel %
03/27 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom %
03/28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s %
03/30 – Boston, MA @ T.T. the Bears %
03/31 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rosa %
04/01 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace %
04/02 – Ithaca, NY @ Castaways %
04/04 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall %
04/06 – Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar %
04/07 – Grinnell, IA @ Gardner Lounge at Grinnell College %
04/09 – Norman, OK @ The Opolis %
04/22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
04/23 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
04/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
04/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
04/27 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
04/28 – Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret
04/29 – Seattle, WA @ Triple Door
04/30 – Pullman, WA @ The BellTower
05/01 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
05/04 – Denver, CO @ The Walnut Room
05/07 – Austin, TX @ The Parish

# Jonathan Meiburg solo, supporting Xiu Xiu
% w/ Wye Oak