Grizzly Bear
Veckatimest
Warp Records

4.5 /5

To say it’s been a good year for Grizzly Bear would be an epic understatement.

The band’s third full-length release Veckatimest is one that has launched the New York native four piece from relatively unknown freak-folk beginnings into Billboard’s Top 10 Charts and indie stardom.

Listening through Veckatimest, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype that has surrounded it since the band debuted “Two Weeks” on Letterman last year.  Unlike so many bands and records that have followed the same potentially deadly path before them, Veckatimest not only delivers on the hype but goes over and above to heights left untouched by only a special few albums.

The album opener, “Southern Point” twangs through an upbeat victorious brawl building and slowing in gentle neck break fashion, followed by “Two Weeks” the culprit for all the attention garnered to the release even months before it’s premature leak.  It would be hard to argue that any other song in Grizzly Bear’s catalogue matches the accessibility found on “Two Weeks” an undeniably infectious anthem led by a stark and simple keyboard oddly reminiscent of Dr. Dre’s infamous “Still Dre”.  The oh’s and ah’s of Grizzly Bear’s dynamic chamber add a pop sensibility never revealed before Veckatimest.

Grizzly Bear’s original break-out album “Yellow House” was an underground favorite due in large to the band’s eccentric song structures and varied yet odd instrumentation.  The big pull to the act however, was the foursome’s ability to create a epic landscapes with their four-part lush vocal harmonies.  Veckatimest has only refined and built on this attribute, making their harmonies even more accessible and apparent.

This is audible enough on “All We Ask” a slow burner that starts in a barren acoustic opening before building into it’s choral climax.  If you feel like your drifting down a lazy river on a hot summer day when the band break into the closing lines “I can’t get out of what I’m into with you.” it won’t be the last time that Veckatimest will lull you into a fuzzy stupor.

What makes this album more than just good and nearly above great is it’s ability to create and withhold the listener in this environment throughout.  If that is this album’s thesis then consider the closer “Foreground” the sole source.  Backed by a minimalist piano, lead vocalist Ed Droste proves why he is an ever growing icon in today’s independent music scene.  Lending his voice to what will prove to be the most achingly ravishing track recorded by Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest is ended on a hair-raising whispering howl.  And with that, Veckatimest is ends on a note that is sure to captivate and encapsulate listeners with it’s sunny soundscapes.

mp3:: grizzly bear- all we ask
mp3:: grizzly bear- cheerleader

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