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HOT OFF THE PRESS – Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for Nick Courtright’s weekly first glance at just-discovered music, whether it be just-released, just-leaked, or some long-lost gem that has remained under the radar. Click here for other recent editions of Hot Off the Press, featuring acts such as Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, Deerhunter, TV on the Radio, M. Ward, and St. Vincent.
to be released May 26 on Warp
Report Card: B+
Here’s a fact: saying anything about Grizzly Bear that falls short of utter and uncompromising praise isn’t a very popular move. That being acknowledged, let’s put aside all the acclaim and rampant fandom for a second and allow this piece of blasphemy to come into focus: no matter how good Veckatimest may be as a whole, it never, ever reaches the impossibly lofty expectations created by its early singles. And how about this: is it possible for an album to be a sweeping, marvelous success in so many ways, yet still, at the end of the day, feel like a disappointment? To that question, Veckatimest says yes.
In a sense, Veckatimest is what happens when a bunch of ridiculously talented musicians think their way so staunchly through their songs that the end result is something a little too polished, a little too perfect. But this isn’t just a case of excessive studio sheen, as that knob twisting isn’t significantly more spit-shined than on the exceptional Yellow House; instead, it’s the instrumentation itself that adheres so closely to the “right” way of doing things that much of the magic of discovery and mistake is lost. Still, this isn’t to say that Veckatimest isn’t a wonderful work, because it’s covered with the hallmarks of a band coming into their own and doing so with more grace than many before them; it is, though, to say that all too often their measured and reasonable approach to songcraft results in minutes at a time passing through the speakers without truly capturing the listener’s undistracted attention, let alone awe.
The lack of hooks and inspired energy isn’t to be seen everywhere, though; for example, after four and a half minutes of relatively soft-spoken meandering, “All We Ask” breaks into a glorious harmony featuring enough variation to bob your head to—it’s almost enough to make up for the wandering it took to get there, but it also maybe would have been nicer if a minute or two was cut from the song’s midsection. Examples of this nature abound: see the delayed climax of “Fine for Now” and the lengthy build-up of “Dory” for instances in which academic song-tweaking didn’t necessarily do the raw tunes their greatest justice. Only in the two pre-release tracks (both phenomenally addictive “Two Weeks” and charming “While You Wait for the Others” debuted on late night television shows, a coup which led directly to the ridiculous anticipation about the album as a whole), bare and beautiful album-closer “Foreground,” and the fantastic, darkly palatial “Ready, Able,” does it seem like the band really lets go long enough to let the songs breathe. Compare that to the haunting sparseness of Yellow House and the contrast is apparent.
Despite all this, there’s ample reason for excitement, as the sheer talent level of the band means that they’ll continue to grow and experiment and develop—surely the follow-up to this album will be just as brutally anticipated as this one was, and rarely has a band this critically fawned-over seemed so ticketed for mainstream fame. But for now, what we’ve got is an album that’s cleaner, tighter, and more solidly put together than its adored predecessor, even if a bit less cleanliness, a bit less tightness, and a bit less solidity would have made for a more rewarding and dynamic listening experience. After all, risk does have its merits.
Listen to music by Grizzly Bear here