“I can’t. Get out. Of what I’m into with you.” Comes the pleading refrain, the beautiful prison built from love, the acceptance of a commitment to the agonies and pleasures of throwing yourself into another person, a piece of bittersweet romantic honesty that floats so delicately out of the tail section of All We Ask that it almost seems possible to cup it out of the air and hold it to your chest. It’s easy enough to allow moments like this to float by, unnoticed. There is after all, a plethora of sweet, gentle melodic peaks and dramatic, rolling troughs to choose from besides. You don’t get smoke without fire. Veckatimest is here and crackling away under the billowing clouds of hype and hyperbole there’s a flame burning. Grizzly Bear have written an album with a beating heart.
Veckatimest is the third full-length album from Brooklyn-based chamber-pop merchants Grizzly Bear. In recording this album, the band worked with classical composer Nico Muhly, visited upstate New York, a church in Brooklyn and an uninhabited island called, in the language of the Native Americans, Veckatimest. In many ways, it’s a logical ancestor of Yellow House, with the wind-tunnel folk more dramatic at times and studded with strong-willed, would-be alternative pop classics straining at the leash and glistening with studio sheen. Chris Taylor’s production on Veckatimest has all of the depth and quality that the sound has always begged for. The leaked transcode of this album was a particular shame, the sound on Veckatimest proper is as crisp as a morning frost.
Early on, the highly approachable and ultimately heavily addictive pop ballad ‘Two Weeks’, featuring Beach House’s Victoria Legrand on backing vocals lays out the sorts of progressions that Grizzly Bear have made from Yellow House. Daniel Rossen’s bouncing ditty makes a tight grip, while Ed Droste delivers a series of falsetto-laced assurances ”Just like yesterday, I told you I would stay/ Make it easy, Take your time.” The accessible pop pieces are counterbalanced by an expected amount of brow-furrowing noise based drama and other-worldly vocal meditations on loss and self-doubt ”I’m cheerleading myself, I should’ve made it matter. Go on, let it go- it doesn’t mean a thing..” Indeed, it’s that buoyant sense of optimism established on ‘Two Weeks’ that becomes tinged with cynicism and fatigue as the album progresses, as commitment to the mutually assured imprisonment of a relationship wanes ”If it’s all or nothing then let me go. There was time, it took time/There is time, so much time/There is time, so much time” These resonant post-modern love songs puncture with a powerful verve and clarity.
From time to time albums do exactly what they are supposed to do. No more, no less. The bar is already fairly high, it might just have been raised again. Veckatimest is deep, it’s rich, it’s soulful and on more than enough occasions it’s just good, old-fashioned, spine-shudderingly beautiful. From an album such as this, what more could one really ask for? Veckatimest fulfills itself, a sincere and beautiful album, a classic of 2009.
100%
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HELL YES. nice work pete.
One of the few albums that Richard’s Hughes and Thane agree on :-)
This is a really good, well constructed review, well done sir…From what I’ve heard so far, it is going to be a wonderful album. I’m seeing them at the Koko on August 18th, can’t wait!
we all know what I think about 100% reviews but i’m not going to go into that per se….more to say, while this is a good album, it isn’t as good as ‘In Ear Park’ by Department Of Eagles.
…which of course is mr rossen’s other band
i think department of eagles is bloody amazing. but this has the edge as far as i’m concerned. mainly for the fact it contains ‘two weeks’ which is one of the most perfect pop songs i’ve heard in years.
*swwoooosssh*
That’s the sound of Grizzly Bear going right over my head.
:(
I like it a lot but it’s not THAT good. Bit like The Horrors album were after a few chaps say it’s the best thing ever seems to snowball!
@anthony- indeed- Apparently we have two 100% records in two weeks.
It’s been a good two weeks for mild-mannered chamber-pop.
yes, two 100% and a 73% to the Akron/Family latest which is, to me, far better than the two 100%.
i always get the feeling with grizzly bear that you aren’t allowed to think it’s only ‘alright’. I can’t remember an album thats had this much hype in the run up to it for quite so long
I think the Horrors record has had more hype – I’ve not really seen that much about this album…
Sure, another 100% review but, whatever, read the review rather than the score.
I think Pete does a fantastic job of describing this music. It really is a beautiful album.
Rich- If you really think that, then maybe we should just not give scores. And I didn’t say it was a bad review.
Im surprised you dont think this has been that hyped- i seem to have had people bleating on about it since january.
I just don’t listen to people :-)
And I don’t want to have the score discussion AGAIN – the score is a marker, the words are the most important thing.
it has been hyped a shit load actually.
in fact – this was being hyped whilst they were still recording the fucking thing… but in my opinion – it’s one of the few hyped releases around that actually deserves every bit of attention it gets.
but of course it’s fine to say it’s just ‘alright’
I love the album cover, I wonder who did/made it?
Blimey,
I’m quite happy not to have heard it all yet. Just ‘Two Weeks’ and ‘Cheerleader’ (posted here a while back). I’m sad and old enough to prefer to have it on CD, because I think it’s worth it (especially because of that beautiful cover art).
I don’t do 100%s – I don’t think I’ve posted anything over 85% on this site because honestly I think albums can only prove their worth over time. Some albums seem great at first but don’t have the legs – others improve with age. As Rich says it’s the words that count. That’s not to say I disagree with giving a rating – but I think we all agree it’s fallible system.
Hype? I think it depends what media you read. For me, this is the biggest release since, er Merriweather Post Pavilion (i.e., it’s still a very big deal). I’ve been looking forward to this for a while.
James
I get them now.