Two and a half years ago, roughly two hours before Austin’s Okkervil River packed the Rock and Roll Hotel to the point of immobility, a man named Jonathan Meiburg sat onstage and played a few mournful tunes before returning as part of the OR lineup. That solo set, accompanied only by guitar and trumpet, felt like an afterthought. Although the power of Meiburg’s voice was unmistakable, the performance seemed wan, forlorn and forgettable. It couldn’t have been more different from Meiburg’s awe-inspiring appearance with Shearwater on Friday.

The centerpiece of Shearwater’s music is Meiburg’s voice, which rang with clarity and remained a stunning as the band opened with “Black Eyes” from this year’s The Golden Archipelago. The songs in their catalog range from slower haunting fare to dizzying powerhouses, and their choice of instrumentation highlighted each aspect. Multi-instrumentalist Kimberly Burke moved from glockenspiel to bass as fit the mood, and Thor Harris was just as quick to pick up the clarinet as the drums. They also brought Wye Oak drummer Andy Stack onstage for added percussion on recent single “Castaways” and the swirling “Corridors.”