Grizzly Bear’s Double LP ‘Veckatimest’ arrives in the post!

Making a case for actually taking the time to listen to an actual vinyl LP from end to end the gargantuan rich and warm new double album ‘Veckatimest’ from Grizzly Bear just arrived in the mail! Case made, we’re taking that time now.
‘Veckatimest’ is dense, and clever like the kind of record they used to make back when The Beatles were trading blows with The Beach Boys and the likes of “Odessey & Oracle” and “Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society” were falling through the cracks.  12 songs, 3 per side, each like a little pocket symphony complete with choral & string arrangements and touched as much by a late 60’s/early 70’s southern California sunlight as it is by the very English rain of ‘Atom Heart Mother’ era Pink Floyd. It’s a big record with big ideas but one that never cheats to challenge with needy pretension. Instead, the tracks are soothing and lovely proper songs that at times like single ‘Two Weeks’ astound with their pop-fantastic status.

But as well grounded and connected to their lineage as they are, there’s also something very immediately ‘new’ about things. Throughout, the songs maintain an honestly refreshing class while the angst hidden within them exists very much in the ‘Post’–post-punk, post-indie, post all those collective naughties-breakthroughs–in a way that seems to allow them the space to stretch out with confidence. ‘Veckatimest’ breaths and swells, rising from track to track with an assurance and confidence accumulating in the giddy crescendos of ‘I live With You’ and the simple melancholic elegance of ‘Foreground’. That song’s final unexpected and fleeting rise of choral harmony to conclude the record could sum-up so much of what’s right about the orchestration. Never once does the quote un-quote sophisticated production overwhelm the tracks or draw attention to itself for the sake of it. It might be a youth choir, but it’s so seemingly graceful and natural it’s hard to think of it as any more indulgent than the act of plugging a guitar into an amp. Conversely, it’s more than satisfying to hear a clever band getting by on ideas and real musicianship that moves well beyond trading on delay pedals, swaths of reverb, and lo-fi grit. And finally, everything about the LP, from the songs and sounds to the cover art, tinted paper of the inner sleeve and full color photo booklet, are of a similar, effortlessly-beautiful quality. It’s a quality you would hope still earns a place in this physical world. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 12:00. It is filed under We're Listening To.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.