Shearwater's eighth album and their SubPop debut is "Animal Joy" and to those of us that love our pets and Animal Planet and PETA; well, this could be the soundtrack. Jonathan Meiburg has that falsetto working - sort of like Brian Wilson did 50 years ago - and the first tune, "Animal Life" is a baroque classic and as a cat person, gotta love those cheetahs looking cool on the back cover. While the first song sets a high bar which the others fail to match, you'll probably still buy in to Meiburg's evident passion for his night job. Fans of the Shins should dig this one - once again, more music from the wrong century but perfect for "The Canterbury Tales," or back when Chaucer was feeling studly in 1381.