Seattle Subsonic

Grizzly Bear Will Be Good, I’m Sure Of It

October 14th, 2009

About four months ago, I put on a rather large geek-out party when all I cared to listen to was the plush and magnetic record from Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest. (Solved the issue on the pronunciation shortly thereafter, btw: veck-uh-tim-est). The record was a springtime one, and emitted a smudgy sunshine gleam ( “Cheerleader”, for example), but now that it’s autumn and the cold has settled in, the off-kilter indoor coziness of it sounds just as engrossing as ever. Regular listens are imperative, despite its ripe old age of five long months.

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The band is making their way to our corner of the world, the Moore Theatre to be precise, this Friday, October 16th. They’ll be joined by the Morning Benders. Tickets are (amazingly) still available, and I would recommend you getting down off that silly horse and checking it out. A memory from my party:

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Like with any beguiling record, there are a handful of songs that truly stand out, and if you’ve spent any time at all listening to or reading about this one, you aren’t likely to be surprised by my picks. “Two Weeks” is the popular front running favorite, its exemplary video of the band members’ pasty, incandescent faces slowly exploding into Piccolo Pete-type fireworks. Daniel Rossen’s (also of Department of Eagles fame) jumpy, plaintive piano lights the match while Ed Droste’s classic tenor spirals into the ether (Save up all the days / A routine malaise). Harmonizing is key for this band, and they succeed at it without show or pretension. My absolute personal favorite, however, is “While You Wait For the Others”, a bouncy folk tune with a goose-bump-giving chorus (So I’ll ask you kindly / to make your way / Ooooooh!). Rossen provides lead vocals this time, deliberately strumming his reverberating hollow-body to absolute perfection.

I have no doubt the show will be stupendous. If it isn’t, well, I’ll try to be honest about it. Please watch the video for my favorite tune, directed by Seattle’s own Sean Pecknold (brother of Robin, of course), who’s in high demand after creating a couple Fleet Foxes videos (“Mykonos”, “White Winter Hymnal”) and another for Elvis Perkins.

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