GRIZZLY BEAR: VECKATIMEST

[rating:5]

Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest

Label: Warp Records

Release Date: May 26, 2009

Veckatimest is a record where bombast and stark instrumentation stand side by side, and yet manage to makes sounds that are at experimental and left of the dial seem perfectly conventional and accessible.  Many of the songs combine rhythms and instrumentation that would seem to not fit together, yet when assembled they form a cohesive and often majestic whole.  Check “Ready, Able,” for example.  Anchored by chugging drums and bass, the slowly strummed harp seems, at first, to be an odd choice.  However, this combination of orchestral, choral, and rockin’ seems to be the synthesis that Grizzly Bear has achieved, mostly grandiose, sometimes minimal, but nearly always stunning.

Grandiosity, however, isn’t the entire album.  The simple electric piano driven pop of “Two Weeks” is fit for the summer soundtrack of 2009, with its abundance of sing-a-long oohs and ahhs that seem to always be floating about the surface.  The accusatory “While You Wait For The Others” drives what is easily the most jubilant and melodic chorus on the record, and on any other record for that matter, with a sensibility that wouldn’t be out of place in the A.C. Newman songbook, minus the cleverness, plus a healthy dose of vitriol & sincerity.  Name checking contemporary artists, though, doesn’t seem to be something Grizzly Bear seems too interested in.  If anything, the similarities are pretty far off the radar; the vocal swell that precedes album standout “Dory” recalls the soundtrack to Dr. David Bowman maneuvering into the stargate in 2001:  A Space Odyssey.  So, if you are name checking the “Sounds Like” list at home, cross Hungarian experimental composer György Ligeti off the list.

At the end of “All We Ask,” the band members coo “I can’t get out of what I’m into with you” with each other. While on the surface this statement summarizes a song about a shitty relationship, the sentiment shouldn’t be lost.  The harmony is very laid back and very cool, and sounds very much like a bunch of guys singing together because they love to sing together, and the statement really can be seen as an honest reflection of a genuine appreciation for one another.  Veckatimest is the first Grizzly Bear record to be a wholly “band” album & not just a front for band leader & founder Edward Droste, and is easily the best Grizzly Bear record to date.  This group effort really shines, and while this album is surely not the most accessible record as a whole, it’s easily one of the best in recent memory.  Oh, and while Grizzly Bear certainly benefit from the help of the Brooklyn Youth Choir and composer Nico Muhly on the album, they clearly have the chops to pull off whatever they want to do without any help at all.

-John Whitaker