Holiday + Shearwater

Loma plays atmospheric indie, ambient pop and experimental folk with calm, soaring soundscapes. Shearwater moves in indie rock, art rock and post-rock, often with more dramatic build-ups and powerful vocals. Both bands work at the intersection of alternative rock and artistic, genre-exploring songwriting, but with distinctly different temperaments.

Loma and Shearwater seem almost destined to tour together. Both feature the songwriter Jonathan Meiburg and the sound technician/producer Dan Duszynski; both have roots in Austin, Texas; both release on Seattle's Sub Pop Records. And both have a third member named Emily (Emily Lee in Shearwater, Emily Cross in Loma).

But they are different in the profound ways that only siblings can be. Cross's calm, enveloping voice is the heart of Loma, whose pastoral, alluring 2018 debut is miles away from Shearwater's extrovert Jet Plane and Oxbow, released the year before. Since then, each band has released two more albums: Loma followed their self-titled debut with 'Don't Shy Away' (2020) and How Will I Live Without A Body? (2023), while Shearwater released 'The Great Awakening' (2022) and this year's The New World (2026).

However, neither group has played live since 2018 -- which Meiburg insists was a coincidence. “The pandemic scrambled everything,” he says, “and members of both groups left the country. Suddenly putting together a tour felt almost impossible, and it took a while to come back from that.”

So why perform together now? Doesn't that even out the differences between the bands?
“Well, touring's way more expensive these days,” admits Meiburg, “and we needed to save money.” Cross laughs and gives him the right -- but also says it appeals to her as an artistic challenge. “We've got six musicians, and we play different roles in the groups,” she says, “so it's like being in a theater company putting on two separate plays.” That way, she points out, everyone also gets to play twice as long -- three times as long in Duszynski's case, whose solo project Any Kind opens the concerts.

Will they tour together again? Cross and Meiburg look at each other gently before erupting into laughter like old friends. “I think we're curious to see how this round goes,” says Meiburg. “We'll see after that. But, more than anything, we just want to play live for an audience again. Before we get too old and wise to think it's a good idea.”

Supporto:
- Any Kind