Grizzly Bear
Veckatimest
New Album lives up to anticipation

By Chris Drabick

If you were a fan of Horn of Plenty, Grizzly Bear’s 2004 debut, it would probably be difficult to imagine that sound, as well as the career trajectory, that the band has navigated since then. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Ed Droste conceived the debut as a batch of solo demos; enter the band’s first recruit, Christopher Bear, to augment the debut with vocal harmonies and percussive flavorings. Horn of Plenty was well-received (as was its remix edition, released the following year), but was scant preparation for the expansive Yellow House, which found the band swelled to a four-piece. The additions of Daniel Rossen (who had previously, and subsequently, recorded with the duo Department of Eagles) and the versatile Chris Taylor (another busy dude whose production credits include Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson’s fine 2008 debut) turned Grizzly Bear from a band with potential to a simultaneously gentle and forceful act.

Yellow House received accolades all over the place, but it was the band’s subsequent touring schedule that really began to turn heads and ears. Onstage, the band took skeletal Horn of Plenty numbers like “Alligator” to completely different places, fleshing that track out with layers of cascading harmonies (which invariably leads to all-too-obvious Beach Boys comparisons for the Bear) and far more aggression than evident on its’ nascent recorded version. Additionally, “On a Neck, On a Spit” and “Knife,” highlights from Yellow House, sounded far more trenchant in their live versions. The development of the band as a live force was partially responsible or the release of last year’s Friend EP, which contained the re-recording of the aforementioned “Alligator,” as well as some collaborations with friends like Band of Horses and Atlas Sound.

Last year solidified Grizzly Bear’s heightened profile with a string of dates opening for Radiohead (prompting unabashed onstage love from Jonny Greenwood) and a residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music backing Paul Simon. In addition, the band took to debuting songs from the forthcoming third full-length Veckatimest on late-night TV, showcasing “While You Wait For the Others” on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and first single “Two Weeks” a couple of months later on David Letterman’s program (causing Letterman to quip, “They came all the way from Brooklyn!”). With Grizzly Bear ready to unveil Veckatimest to the world, founder Ed Droste took time out to discuss the band’s past, present and hopes for the future.

Yellow House was a pretty widely acclaimed record, but the songs take on a different flavor on-stage. How do you think the new record sounds/works within the context of your live approach?

I think there was a much larger discrepancy between Yellow House and our live show than there is now. We were asked so much after touring Yellow House to make a “live album” since the songs had been so drastically reinterpreted for the stage, that we realized our live situation was just another thing on its own, which is partially why we felt compelled to release the Friend EP with a few alternate versions of songs. Of course, we still really value keeping the live show unique from the recording, but we also felt it was important for us to maybe narrow the gap because we’d grown fond of our live sound (especially showcasing the drums), so there was a conscious effort to record the new album a BIT closer to the live experience, while still keeping them both unique in their own right.

You could say that Yellow House was the true “debut” of Grizzly Bear the band, seeing as how Horn of Plenty was all wrapped up before the rest of the guys came aboard. How would you say the increase in time spent together as a band has affected the dynamic in both the studio and the songwriting/arranging processes?

I believe we’ve really grown together a lot in the past few years. Learned how to collaborate more comfortably together. Matured. We’ve come to terms with what our strengths and weaknesses are and there is a stronger sense of confidence about our own roles, which leads to a more open writing and recording process. There was some time when we weren’t sure how Veckatimest was going to come about. It had been touring [so long] and nobody had anything really new to add that we weren’t even sure how it would all play out. Then we just decided to take the pressure off and just have fun with each other, which in a weird way was a novel idea for us. We thought to ourselves, there is no deadline for this. There are no rules. You can add what you like. Let’s not be overly precious about the material. Let’s make sure everyone has gotten to say what they wanted to say, and in many ways because of this I think we’ve made a much more exciting record with more depth.

Tell me about the recording process Veckatimest, where it was recorded, why you chose that spot, the hows and whys of who and what you worked with.

Well mostly we were offered up the use of a gorgeous estate in the Catskills free of charge and couldn’t possibly turn it down. We had some material and were ready to embark on the strange and exciting process of recording an album, all the time continuing to write new material. Naturally the three weeks upstate weren’t enough, so we took a bit of time off to go on tour with Radiohead and then used the next space that was offered to us, my Grandmother’s house on Cape Cod. All in all, it was really amazing to have those two spots with the addition of our rehearsal space in New York (an amazing old church that is barely used anymore) for recording because each of them held special moments and influences. For instance, upstate had a giant 50-foot tall live room hall (it was an old recording studio temporarily shut down) and was on top of a mountain with a panoramic view of the valley surrounding. The nature of course was inspiring to say the least, but just having such an amazing sounding acoustic space as your disposal 24/7 was an entirely new experience for us. Having recorded our last album in suburban Boston, with neighbors complaining about noise, this really gave us a new freedom, which we found to be rather exciting to say the least.

It seems that you must be the least control-freaky musician in the world to open up your band the way you have to new members and their contributions. When, if ever, is it most difficult for you to cede control?

I’m just not a control freak, and over the past few years we’ve all become more open to just surrendering control over our initial thoughts or “sketches”. It’s hard for me to cede control when we have to find a place to eat. I like a good meal and I don’t want fast food. As for music, I love being in a band and having other people I respect to bounce ideas off of and vice versa. I’d never go solo; even if I wanted to I don’t think I could. I’m not an accomplished instrumentalist, just more of a singer/song writer, so I’d just be standing there at the mic with my omnichord looking confused!

The band has had some high-profile gigs recently, like opening for Radiohead last summer and lots of late-night chat show appearances. Do you feel it is possible that wider commercial acceptance is a possibility? Could Grizzly Bear have a 2000’s version of a “hit record?” What is your grandest hope for the band commercially?

Well, I doubt we’ll ever be play listed on commercial radio because that is usually bought with major label dollars and the system is generally broken. [It is] not open to smaller indie bands just coming in and getting radio play, which is basically the only way a big hit record is made. Will we have more fans with this release? I hope so. The reaction leading up to it is certainly much more than we’ve ever seen before. Ultimately we are just excited to hit the road again and start playing shows. Been too long…

Did you feel pressure to deliver a great record? With the band’s bigger profile of late, did you feel that the record needed to deliver on any expectations?

We ultimately wanted to make a record we could all stand behind and were proud of. I remember talking about this with the guys and discussing at the end of mixing how excited we all were and saying, “Uou know what, sure it’d be a bummer if people didn’t like it, but I know I love it and I can stand behind it no matter what review it gets” and that is what we were aiming for I think, to make music we ourselves would love. Hopefully others will too!