“Speak in Rounds” begins with a chugging bass and aped drum before taking off with a skittered Feelies-esque strum, cruising into a powerful, echoed chorus and fiery horn-blared outtro. “Sleeping Ute” forecasts much of what is to come on the album: angelic guitar work, fluid major to minor shifts and rich, sprawling soundscapes. Shields begins with “Sleeping Ute” which sounds like a not-so-distant cousin of Jeff Buckley’s “So Real.” Bear’s quirky time signature and Rossen’s dainty little riffs and finger-picking are at the forefront with jarring percussion at every turn. For a breakthrough, throw on a pair of headphones to check out the gorgeous stereo mixing.Īs per usual, Grizzly Bear has an incredible introductory track. At first it might seem like an average rock record, but a few listens through and one will notice innumerable production intricacies: Chris Taylor’s sprinkled effects, Bear’s clever percussion, warm but subtle instrumentation, frequent and seamless musical segues. Shields is an album that builds on itself with multiple listens. One thing became apparent very early on–the new album isn’t challenging per se, but it certainly doesn’t have a one-spin snare like “Two Weeks.” This, however, should not discourage the listener. Shields streamed on NPR’s website last week for an early listen. Would the new album potentially risk indie rock credibility and become a “sell-out” record dominated by poppy fare? After all, “Two Weeks” found its way onto college bar soundtracks a few years ago sandwiched in between MGMT’s “Electric Feel” and Animal Collective’s “My Girls.” Would Shields be too conservative and latch onto the successful cross-over aesthetic of Veckatimest and its predecessor Yellow House? Or would it be too out-there, ultimately turning off their recent converts? Until a few weeks ago Grizzly Bear’s fourth album, Shields, had fans tweaking with ached anticipation. To keep a long story short, in 2009 Grizzly Bear could have boasted (if they weren’t such humble guys) to be one of the only “do-no-wrongs” to emerge in the 2000s music scene, an era of numerous successful debuts and subsequent failures to launch. With the ante upped and a challenge to write music as a whole band, the four-piece song architectural firm built the skyscraping Veckatimest. Grizzly Bear’s second release, Yellow House, saw an unexpected and exponential sonic expansion with the admission of multi-instrumentalists Daniel Rossen and Chris Taylor. The eerie, lo-fi bedroom musings of leading man Ed Droste were appropriated for their debut Horn of Plenty with the aid of drummer Christopher Bear. Since its conception, Grizzly Bear has a seen a tremendous evolution.
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