Thanks to the popularity of their current album, ‘ Veckatimest’ , Grizzly Bear are the latest band to challenge the top slot currently held by fellow Brooklyn-ers Animal Collective on of my New Weird America Last.Fm group chart .
They are not particularly ‘weird’ and, despite their name, there’s nothing fierce or threatening about their music. On the contrary, their richly melodic and meticulously structured sound could almost be called cuddly – more ‘Teddy’ than ‘Grizzly’. Pitchfork calls Veckatimest “compositionally and sonically airtight”.
Jonny Greenwood is a big fan and this helped the band to land a prestigious support slot on Radiohead’s North American tour in 2008. There may be a cultural divide between these two bands, but they both inhabit the more studious strand of contemporary music – a kind of swot-rock.
Grizzly Bear are ostensibly an Indie band, albeit one whose pop/rock sound covers more territory than your average chart combo. The choral interludes, for instance, would not be out of place on Phillip Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi .
Animal Collective may retain the crown as number one New Weird crossover band but the widescreen pop of Grizzly Bear (along with similar groups like Fleet Foxes) emphasises how modern day Americana makes a genre like Alt. Country look very outmoded.
Nice post. I write Americana music, too. I also give it away (the older stuff) on my blog to stir interest. It’s a hard business to break into.
I just found Koyaanisqatsi on youtube for the first time (have had the album Veckatimest since it came out) and I am so glad that someone else noticed the similarity! So much did it strike me I felt sure that when I googled ‘Grizzly Bear Koyaanisqatsi’ that I’d see something where they cite it as an influence… but no. I think this qualifies you and I to do an exclusive interview with them, don’t you?