RESTOCK. Dually led by Will Robinson Sheff and Jonathan Meiburg, Shearwater¹s addictive sound has been compared to Cat Power and Richard Buckner, though their true influences lie slightly further back in time. Everybody Makes Mistakes lovingly attempts to continue the thread of modern songwriter-oriented folk--the thread that ran through such albums as Van Morrison¹s Astral Weeks, Nico¹s Chelsea Girl, Tim Hardin¹s 1 and Lou Reed¹s Berlin. As if these lofty goals are not enough, Shearwater is not the only creative outlet for both Sheff and Meiburg, as both play in the wonderfully skewed Okkervil River. These are two talented voices: Sheff¹s a crackly growl reminiscent of Bright Eyes¹ Conor Oberst or Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel and Meiburg¹s a fragile falsetto that recalls Jeff Buckley, Sigur Rós¹s Jón Thór Birgisson, Robert Wyatt or Damon Krukowski of Damon & Naomi. Everybody Makes Mistakes, the band¹s second effort, was conceived as a concept album about failure and bad decisions, a paean to the time-honored sophomore slump. The reverse psychology worked, however, and EMM finds the band evading the traditional second-album rut, instead delivering yet another powerful set of songs. Made in a Texas shed with producer Brian Beattie, the album benefits from the contributions of drummer/vibraphonist Thor Harris, the group¹s recently added fourth member, who moonlights with the Angels of Light and Lisa Germano. The instrumental palette is further broadened by pump organ, a string section and clarinet; EMM becomes a summer storm of closely miked voices, swaying strings and noises from the street, all dusted with a light layer of narcotic dream-pop and interwoven with a deep current of melancholy and ultimate forgiveness.