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The New World Image
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The latest full-length release from Shearwater features contributions from such artists as Leo Abrahams, Laurie Anderson, Shahzad Ismaily, Thor Harris, Mamadou Kouyate, Moctar Kouyate, Mahamadou Tounkara, and Doug Wieselman.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Jul 30, 2026
    90
    Probably Shearwater’s best record to date. After two decades, they’re probably not expecting any crossover hits, and The New World won’t be the album that breaks them into the big time, but Shearwater fans – and hopefully newcomers – are guaranteed to be entranced by its stately beauty.
  2. Jul 29, 2026
    90
    There is arguably no modern musician working today who has better assimilated the approach Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis took on his masterworks, Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock: a richly orchestrated art music assembled in a way that feels simultaneously intimate in sentiment and gigantic in scope. .... Some of Shearwater’s finest songs to date. [Aug 2026, p.20]
  3. Jul 29, 2026
    90
    This music eschews categorization, yet, heady as it is, it doesn’t leave you baffled or unmoved. Open as it is, it doesn’t endlessly shift. The New World, simply put, is Shearwater’s masterpiece, a consummate expression of the band’s ethos.
  4. Classic Rock Magazine
    Jul 29, 2026
    80
    The fine taste and restraint are clear within seconds. As the minutes go by, its muscle and power are revealed. [Aug 2026, p.77]
  5. Jul 30, 2026
    80
    The resulting album is archetypal Shearwater — elegant, literate, and emotionally stirring.
  6. Mojo
    Jul 29, 2026
    80
    It's a record of impressive scope and ambition, but there's still a chip if ice at its heart. [Sep 2026, p.89]
  7. Record Collector
    Jul 29, 2026
    60
    A bleakly entrancing set. [Aug 2026, p.113]