Album of the Week: Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Like a Brooklynite art-rock cousin to the California sunny pop of Pet Sounds, Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest is a finely crafted record composed with meticulous attention to detail. Every guitar strum, piano chord, and sweet vocal harmony seems as if it has been obsessively considered. A far cry from the lo-fi bedroom pop of 2004’s Horn of Plenty or 2006’s Pitchfork approved Yellow House, this album (named after an island in Massachusetts) is the next step in Grizzly Bear’s sonic evolution, one of the most promising progressions in pop music this side of Radiohead. Sure, the amount of attention Veckatimest has received pre-release may seem a bit like hyperbole (the album has been continuously voted on uber-music geek site rateyourmusic.com in the top five albums of the year since March!), but the attention may also be warranted considering the quality of the record. The songs mix up psychedelic sound experimentation (sure to appeal to fans of Animal Collective), rustic alt-country guitars, and aforementioned Beach Boys harmonies. Perhaps the closest comparison point though may be to Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as both records tread that fine line between experimentation and roots rock conventions. However, unlike Wilco’s tendency to delve into safe “dad-rock”, the boys of Grizzly Bear produce music a bit too eerie, may I even say edgier, to be cast off to dad’s record collection. The opener “Southern Point” sees the group engaging with psychedelic jazz arrangements while the chamber pop suites of “I Live with You” show how far reaching the band’s ambitions were in recording this album. However, the record truly shines during its moment of pop simplicity, with “While You Wait Here for the Others”, “Cheerleader”, and the bouncy “Two Weeks” standing apart as the album’s highlights. Though the heft of such an ambitious construction may at first come across as a daunting listen, Veckatimest easily becomes one of the most incredible and addictive albums released this year. As the band say themselves, “I can’t get out of what I’m into with you.” I’m sure many more will share these very same sentiments about this album in the weeks to follow.

Listen To: Two Weeks, While You Wait for the Others, Cheerleader

RIYL: Radiohead, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Pet Sounds,