Grizzly Bear play two Irish concerts this summer, at the Galway Arts Festival in the Big Top on July 19th and in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens on Thursday July 18 as part of a trio bookings at that venue by Harmonic that also includes Beach House and The Tallest Man On Earth. Here’s a precis of why you should check them out.
1. I first caught Grizzly Bear in Whelans in May 2007 or more to the point, they caught me, completely unaware that is. Having only ventured down on a balmy early summer evening for something to do and with curiosity piqued by some rave recommendations from internet strangers, their wonderful set that night was the sweetest of surprises, captivating to the point where my eyes were glued to the stage wondering where it was all coming from.
All four band members piled in on the songs’ oblique harmonies, even drummer Christopher Bear. And Bear’s playing was equally measured; groaning from hushed to clamorous in an instant. Bassist Chris Taylor did the old I’m-playing-loads-of-instruments trick without resorting to glockenspiel and melodica in tried and tired indie fashion, instead conjuring up pitch-shifted clarinet loops on the fly. Daniel Rossen fretted fiendish voicings on his archtop, the kinds of chords where all four fingers imply possible moods, occasionally unleashing blasts of ragged dissonance but always keeping the sound on a tight leash.
I cannot fathom the reasons now why I didn’t go to see them in Vicar Street in early November of 2009. I seem to recall it being a Monday and that being a possible reason. Or that I didn’t want to stretch the twenty whatever quid it was for entry. These are all stupid things that sensible people tell themselves to justify foolish (non-)actions. I guess what I am trying to say is this band are even more engrossing on stage than they are on their beautifully crafted records – a buzzing, threshing effusion of bigger-than-the-sum-of-their-parts musicianship.
2. Their most recent album Shields was released in autumn of last year after what seemed to have been a difficult gestation period, with the band having scrapped the original version of the album, struggling to find the momentum they had built up touring Veckatimest. We needn’t have worried of course, as the record itself wound up being Totally Dublin’s second favourite record of 2012, and one of the best videos of the year also, with Emily Kai Bock’s piece for the raucous, blood-spilling Yet Again.
3. Daniel Rossen is Grizzly Bear’s not-so-secret weapon. With his short stature, curiously combed hair and neurotic dynamism, Rossen always reminded me of Paul Simon, but his songwriting has the harmonic acidity of George Harrison with a home-schooling in the jazz harmony used by Randy Newman and Van Dyke Parks. Rossen was the last member of the band to join what was initially Ed Droste’s solo project (named for an ex-boyfriend’s nickname) and the one who plays yin to Droste’s yang as the band’s other lead vocalist.
Outside of Grizzly Bear, Rossen has released records as Department of Eagles with his college room-mate Fred Nicolaus which range from playful electronica on The Cold Nose to more Grizzly-sounding efforts on In Ear Park. A solo EP between Veckatimest and Shields titled Silent Hour/Golden Mile featured this solemn gem, typical of the kind of woebegone grace his songwriting is steeped in.
4. Chris Taylor is Grizzly Bear’s actual secret weapon. Looking vaguely like a human Ken doll, Chris Taylor acts as both musical link between Rossen and Droste, a well-regarded producer and musician (as CANT) outside of his bass playing chops, harmonies and tinkerings on woodwinds in Grizzly Bear. Taylor has produced Twin Shadow’s Forget and Dirty Projectors’ excellently noisy Rise Above. He’s also played both collaborator (as CANT) and producer with the hipper Knowles sister Solange, who appeared with the band onstage at Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee just last week.
5. The Grizz employed Doobie Brothers lead singer and some-time Steely Dan cohort Michael McDonald to dub his deep, creamy yacht-rocking vocals onto their wistful spine-tingler While You Wait For The Others, which displays humour, taste and general awesomeness.
