Veckatimest [PA] [Digipak]

Performer: Grizzly Bear
Artist: Victoria Legrand
Engineer: Chris Taylor; Gareth Jones
Producer: Chris Taylor
Distributor: Redeye Music Distribution

Notes: Audio Mixers: Gareth Jones ; Gareth Hughes Jones. One of the most highly anticipated indie-rock releases of 2009, VECKATIMEST finds Grizzly Bear continuing its nearly exponential leaps in creativity and scope from album to album. While the Brooklyn act's second full-length outing, YELLOW HOUSE, garnered considerable acclaim and solidified the quartet's moody and experimental, yet always tuneful, sound, this remarkable record soars confidently to loftier heights, as best evinced on the urgent folk-tinged opener, "Southern Point," and the gorgeous "Two Weeks," which floats along on stunning vocal harmonies and shimmering electronic flourishes. Like its contemporaries Animal Collective and Deerhunter, Grizzly Bear impressively transcends hipster hype to produce songs that grow more intriguing with time, and, with VECKATIMEST, it may have just crafted its own PET SOUNDS. It's hard to decide what the most impressive thing about Veckatimest is: Grizzly Bear's ambition, which is seemingly boundless, or the fact that this boundless ambition never eclipses these songs. The band already made such an impressive leap from Horn of Plenty to Yellow House that an album to catch their breath would have been understandable. However, Grizzly Bear are most comfortable when they're challenging themselves, and Veckatimest delivers everything that Yellow House did and more. Just as that album blew off the dust and noise that covered Horn of Plenty's lo-fi sketches, this album's production clears away any remaining cobwebs, revealing these songs in all their intricate detail. That detail includes string quartet and choral arrangements by composer and conductor Nico Muhly on some tracks, but all of Veckatimest has a more rarefied air than any of Grizzly Bear's previous work. The band hints at the just how big the album's scope is with its first two tracks: "Southern Point"'s psychedelic folk-jazz throws listeners into its bustling acoustic guitars, piles of vocal harmonies, swishy drums, and various sparkling sounds, making it a disorienting and dazzling opening salvo. The gorgeous "Two Weeks," by contrast, is the album's most immediate moment, its "Would you always? Maybe sometimes? Make it easy? Take your time" chorus teetering elegantly between pleading and reassuring as it's buoyed by backing vocals courtesy of Beach House's Victoria LeGrand. From there, Veckatimest ranges from Yellow House-like rambles such as "Hold Still" and "Dory" -- which plays like a kissing cousin to "Little Brother" -- to elaborate, quicksilver suites like "I Live with You," which builds from the Brooklyn Youth Choir's vocals into skyward-climbing chamber pop, to "While You Wait for the Others" and "Cheerleader"'s deceptively simple pop. At the heart of all these songs are negotiations with someone close, as on "All We Ask"'s admission "I can't get out of what I'm into with you." Though the sheer heft of songs such as "Fine for Now" could easily topple the album's balance between ambition and intimacy, Grizzly Bear knows when to come in for close-focus moments like "About Face" and the final track, "Foreground" which, with its plaintive vocals and simple piano melody, is one of the band's most beautiful ballads yet. It's clear that Veckatimest was made for a lot of listening. Nearly every song feels like the musical equivalent of a big meal: there's lots to digest, and coming back for second (and thirds, and more) is necessary. ~ Heather Phares

Rolling Stone (p.73) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[This album] has a sound that is completely its own: an opulent, intimate rumble built on churning acoustic riffs, haunted croons and precise string parts." Spin (p.86) - "Steeped in Wilco's bittersweet Americana, and adding a Northeastern Gothic twinge, Grizzly Bear sound like they're trying to break your heart." Entertainment Weekly (p.64) - "The swirling gypsy dazzle of 'Southern Point' and 'Two Weeks,' with its lush Beach Boy melodies and jaunty piano jangle, are genuinely intoxicating." -- Grade: B+ CMJ - "The main clincher of this album is that it scoops you up and sweeps right through you....Gentle harmonies conjure swirls of pinks and tangerines, the vocals of band members are sinewy and lithe..." Billboard (p.56) - "Even with the generally lo-fi nature of Grizzly Bear's repertoire, the band manages to throw in a couple of rocking guitar riffs in tracks like 'Fine for Now' and 'While You Wait for the Others.'" Q (Magazine) (p.126) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "These former music students have constructed an album full of intricate songs that subtly changes with each listen....It's a beautiful piece of work." Pitchfork (Website) - "[C]arefully embellished, stripped bare when applicable, full of the joy of sounds colliding with other sounds....Only four guys so completely serious about music-making could come together to make an album this labor-intensive sound so airy, so natural." Record Collector (magazine) (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Sporting production arrangements that sound simultaneously stripped and complex, this is the Bear's best album to date."

This Brooklyn-based unit, originally devised as a one-person bedroom recording project by songwriter Edward Droste, purveys sleepy, diaphanous folktronica that cross-hatches acoustic and electronic instruments into pleasantly rambling stoner dreamscapes. In 2004 Droste brought in singer and multi-instrumentalist Christopher Bear to flesh out his recordings, and the Grizzly Bear franchise officially began. Their 2004 debut was regarded enthusiastically by the music press, and was re-released a year later with additional remixes by many of the celebrated mixmasters of the day. Their 2006 follow-up sported a full band line-up and a much more lush sound, while maintaining the kitchen-sink charm of their earlier work.

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