Bear necessity
GRIZZLY Bear’s breakthrough a decade ago established the indie rockers as the poster boys of what was possible in hipster Williamsburg, as well as what the next-generation Radiohead could sound like.
After opening for Radiohead, the quartet landed two Top 10 albums in a row, as well as a major-label deal. But after the tour for 2012’s Shields album, Grizzly Bear took some time off, only reappearing now with their new album Painting Ruins.
And it’s clear their sound has changed.
Mourning Sound puts Christopher Bear’s drums and Chris Taylor’s bass groove up front, creating an ‘80s-influenced dance-rocker with unusual synth flourishes to maintain some edge, as Ed Droste and Dan Rossen trade vocals. As upbeat as the song sounds, Rossen keeps singing, “I woke to the sound of dogs, to the sound of distant shots and passing trucks,” which actually could be mournful.
However, Grizzly Bear hasn’t abandoned all of its hallmarks. There’s a bit of swooning Radiohead-like vocals in Glass Hillside, mixed with a bit of Steely Dan-styled prog rock. And Three Rings conjures a bit of the dreamy magic that made Veckatimest so arresting, though even here the rhythms remain at the forefront.
Throughout Painted Ruins, Grizzly Bear sounds like it has loosened up. Things here seem far less precise and uptight, especially when compared to Shields. Even on something as lofty as the sweeping Four
Cypresses, with its epic scope built through layers of sound held together with a near-constant snare drum, the joy feels palpable. “It’s chaos,” they sing through an increasingly cluttered soundscape, “but it works.” – Glen Gamboa/Newsday/Tribune News Service
HAVING plied the live indie circuit for a few years now, Beverly Matujal is no longer a greenhorn learning stagecraft or honing her songwriting. She isn’t the cookie cutter she might have appeared to be anymore either, and stepping up to the vocal mike for trad fusion juggernaut Nadir and electro artiste LK Wong is proof of the pudding of her growing prowess.
And while she may have flexed her sense of eclecticism with these pursuits, she is, at heart, a pop folkie who excels at songs that concern matters of the heart. Finally, she is captured in her comfort zone putting her best foot forward in debut album Echoes.
On Escalate, she laments the trepidation in falling in love, yearning for the protagonist’s acceptance. The bouncy track is awash with layers of acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies, which seems to be the template of the genre.
Echo is the “big” song on this five-song debut, an emotionally-charged vehicle which boasts the propulsive energy of Marques Young’s trombone, with Tempered Mental rhythm section of drummer Jimmy Tan and bassist Melina William supplying the laid back beat. Matujal simply soars on this one, her vocal flourishes remaining on the right side of good taste.
Echoes doesn’t attempt to be cutting edge, nor does it try to be trendy. This is really all about a fledgling songwriter spreading her wings and taking flight. While the pace can sometimes seem stuck in second gear, she largely succeeds, given an intuition that lets her shift the gear stick with her delivery. — N. Rama Lohan
SISTERS Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer have never sung together on the two dozen albums they’ve recorded between them.
And though they both are standout songwriters, on this initial collaboration — a second is planned — the siblings almost exclusively stick to covers, picking and choosing masterfully for the most part, from Bob Dylan’s sensitively rendered title cut and Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires’ haunting
The Color Of A Cloudy Day to rootsy classics by the Louvin Brothers, Jessi Colter, and Merle Haggard, and unexpected choices from the Killers, Nick Cave, and Nirvana. (The latter’s Lithium is the only misstep on the album.)
The country-soul sisters save the most powerful moment for last with their own deeply moving Is It Too Much, addressing the tragedy they witnessed as teenagers when their father killed their mother and himself, and asking a question that only they can answer: “Is it too much to carry in your heart?” —