updateghost's Full Review: Veckatimest [Digipak] by Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear toured with Radiohead. Now you know they're good.
That's more or less the story of their career -- the band's debut, "Horn for Plenty," went virtually undernoticed by the indie mainstream, mostly being a solo project for band songwriter Ed Droste. When he gathered some bandmembers, the sophomore release Yellow House garnered notable acclaim, mostly in the form of an 8.7/10 from popular music zine Pitchfork (which will usually gain anybody a decent amount of sales). But it was when Radiohead announced that Grizzly Bear would open on a few dates that people started saying, "Man, I'm really excited about that new Grizzly Bear album," and when Veckatimest, their third effort, leaked, we began hearing phrases such as "album of the decade" or at least "song of the year" (about "Two Weeks").
Pitted against records such as Radiohead's "Kid A," Boredoms "Vision Creation Newsun" and Arcade Fire's "Funeral," "album of the decade" is certainly an exaggeration, but Veckatimest is certainly a remarkable record, and one that you'll likely be spinning for years. Grizzly Bear has pulled their freak-folky aesthetic away from ambient and toward pop, and in a way that behooves listeners by becoming easier to pay attention to. It also avoids the errors that anticipated records tend to make, such as overlong ballads that tire easily and an overt awareness of its own quality. Oddly, the best songs on here are the longest, and the worst songs are the shortest.
"Southern Point" is a perfect introduction for the album, opening with mysterious, seductive steel guitar, and then smacking us with a pounding chorus when Rossen sings, "In the end, you'll never find me." Its brilliant dynamics are matched at several points on the album, such as the irresistible "Fine for Now," which tricks listeners with a slow, nearly-indulgent and then launching into a syncopated chorus that matches "Southern Point."
The band's talent for vocal beauty must also be touched upon, particularly in "Cheerleader," which seems boringly simple before a beautiful vocal symphony lands mid-song. "All We Ask" seems about to collapse before Grizzly Bear treats us with a folky anticlimax. Perhaps the loveliest song is "Ready, Able," which plays the same game as "Cheerleader" and ends up even more tear-jerking.
The band's largest misstep is in "About Face," a triplet-filled static entity that sounds exactly the same as every other triplet-filled static entity on every other indie record, assuming that the prettiness of the triplets will make it worthwhile, fading into the background upon the very first note. Closer "Foreground" is also stupefyingly normal, slow, repetitive -- doesn't that sound like the closer on that one record you just heard?
As for "Two Weeks" -- it's not the best song of the year, but it's true that this is about as good as catchy pop songs are -- and this is a catchy, seemingly meaningless song if you've ever heard one. But the fact that Grizzly Bear can make it so wonderful is a testament to the precision and awareness that makes them one of the best bands currently working.
Rating: B+
Postscript: Some thoughts -- you might notice that I'm saying that this will probably be one of the best records of the year, but only giving it a B+ (I will admit at this point that it is probably better than my other favorite, Asobi Seksu's underrated "Hush"). At this point, "B+" is about as good as records get for me. I can only think of a fingerful of records that are both great and perfect, those being Radiohead's "OK Computer," The Beatles' "Abbey Road," Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," Sonny Sharrock's "Ask the Ages," Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Led Zeppelin's "IV"... and that might honestly be it. I know of many records that are great but imperfect (Deerhunter's "Microcastle"), and many more that are perfect (in that they achieve all of their goals) but only good, mediocre, or maybe bad. I will probably write more extensively about reviewing criteria in the future.
Also: I leave for Mongolia (for the Peace Corps) on June 11th, but I should have Internet access in some places, so reviews might continue to arrive.
There is an unbelievable clarity of sound and vision to Veckatimest: vocals (a duty now shared by all band members) are sharper and more complex, arra...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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