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Product Description
Review
A few months after Animal Collective's superb Merriweather Post Pavilion appeared to a fanfare of praise, a serious rival to its status as the US alternative album of the year - 2009's Fleet Foxes, if you like - has emerged in the shape of Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest.
The Brooklyn quartet, already established as one to watch since 2006's highly promising Yellow House, have spent much of the intervening three years pursuing a hectic touring schedule, including a prestigious stint supporting Radiohead, whose guitarist Jonny Greenwood recently anointed them his ''favourite band in the world''.
High praise indeed, but there's no doubt Veckatimest - named after a tiny, uninhabited island off Cape Cod - is a truly world class record. Like Merriweather Post Pavilion, it's a collection of dazzlingly complex, rich textures, but while the latter album specialises in kaleidoscopic, sugar rush psychedelia, Grizzly Bear's sound is dense and baroque, moving at an altogether statelier pace.
Those seeking instant hooks and sing-along choruses will be disappointed. Veckatimest's songs unfurl gradually; intricate tapestries of shifting rhythms and moods that take time to lodge in the brain. But even on the first couple of listens, some exquisite moments reveal themselves.
Take for example Two Weeks, which begins with infectious, bouncing piano before building into a flurry of harpsichords and gorgeous harmonies; or Ready, Able with its sumptuous refrain marrying organ and bass guitar, evoking memories of Here Today from the Beach Boys' masterful Pet Sounds. Elsewhere; subtle, unobtrusive string arrangements nestle alongside choral flourishes; ethereal, murmured vocals suddenly give way to cacophonous, discordant crescendos; fragments of tunes drift by tantalisingly before moving on. The sheer range of musical ideas is nothing short of breathtaking, showcasing a rare ability to gracefully blend layer upon layer of instruments to achieve a sonic palette verging on the symphonic.
Yet for all its qualities, sometimes Veckatimest is a record easier to admire than love. It occasionally staggers under the sheer weight of its virtuosity and loses focus, with a few tracks suffering from a lack of melody and structure. Yet it all comes together again perfectly on the closing Foreground, a stunning, otherworldly ballad that shimmers beautifully like Mercury Rev during their Deserters Songs-era peak. --Chris White
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CD Description
Brooklyn's Grizzly Bear return May 25th with a new album Veckatimest (pronounced veck-ah-tim-est) , the follow up to the 2006's critically adored 'Yellow House'.
Featuring contributions from Beach House's Victoria Legrand and classical composer Nico Muhly, the album is named after a beautiful uninhabited island off the the coast of Massachusetts.
Featuring contributions from Beach House's Victoria Legrand and classical composer Nico Muhly, the album is named after a beautiful uninhabited island off the the coast of Massachusetts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better now I've come back to it and superb ending,
By
This review is from: Veckatimest (Audio CD)
I first got hold of this album when it came out last year. I played it two or three times and to be honest - it completely failed to grab me. I knew there was a tremendous amount of hype around it but whatever that was about went straight over my head. After reading a few of the reviews I decided to give it another go a few weeks back, as I was intrigued as to what i was missing in this
I have to say straightaway that whilst I still find a few faults with Veckatimest, it has grown on me considerably. When this is good it really does approach brilliance. And for me the best of the album is from the middle onwards. Looking at this now I think it's the first two tracks that put me off. 'Southern Point' I like better now although like one or two other tracks I still think that the odd moment drifts to the bad side of 70s rock music. Maybe it's just me but I hear a faint echo of Steely Dan on at least one track, and I'd hate to think Grizzly Bear will drift down a mid 70s corporate rock/Eagles type gig... . I'm still unconvinced by 'Two Weeks'. I don't know but the piano-driven rock behind this track brings to mind a close resemblance to a Keane song. Perhaps that's what threw me? Still these criticisms are minor really. What I do like is the way the album builds after this. I'm loving the backing vocals and at times their placement is utterly sublime. The closing two tracks though are the standout of the album. 'I Live with You' is a dreamy classic and highlights the best of this record, when it's at its most ethereal and otherworldy is oddly when it packs its biggest punch. 'Foreground' is a fabulous way to bow out of the album and really leaves me wanting more. A very beautiful ending. (8.5/10)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Summertime Swoon 8/10,
By
This review is from: Veckatimest (Audio CD)
Veckatimest is an uninhabited island close to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Veckatimest the album, however, is deceptively full of life. This is one of a series of paradoxes at the heart of this record. It feels awkward, each note having been carefully chosen, or composed, as some have suggested, but it comes across entirely comfortable with its nods to folk and experimentalism. It feels adventurous, but in an entirely safe way, like taking a trip after many hours happy reflection deep within the folds of a forgiving sofa, but only to the lush confines of some walled garden.
There will be and have been inevitable comparisons made with Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion. Both records are experimental and have had loose genres such as folk, pop and generic indie, even combinations thereof, thrown at them with the hope one might stick. The Animal Collective album however was full of giddy abandon; Veckatimest is truly hammock-worthy in its more relaxed approach. The close harmonies of West Coast classics live on in this record, as they did in Fleet Foxes' successful release last year. Yet, there is much more at play here. The infectious bounce of `Two Weeks' is loveable in a way Fleet Foxes were not, which is to say, if they were `White Winter Hymnal', then this is summertime swoon. The vocal is ever warm and dreamy to the point of Deerhunter. `Cheerleader' strongly recalls the considered plod of Bradford Cox's `Saved By Old Times'. The bubbling harmony, acoustic strumming, plucks and mid-tempos that start `Dory' bring Department of Eagles to mind. The orchestral quality of `Hold Still', with its choir-like vocal hints at the scope of the album's potential. `While You Wait For The Others' confirms it with its epiphanic and soaring vocal. Whilst it is not all about the vocal, here, it firmly is. Album closer, `Foreground', proves this and ushers the listen to a close with twinkles in ivory-tickled tristesse - a touching and fitting close to an album, which if not immediate, nor, curiously, especially memorable, does affect the listener in its sentiment and aesthetic. Whether an injection of urgency would have cooked the mix too quickly or woken it from its comfortable reverie we will never know. Nevertheless, what is certain is that one Veckatimest is sure to be full of admirers from here on in.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply brilliant.,
By JP 23 (Lincoln UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Veckatimest (Audio CD)
Shocked to see any negative reviews of Veckatimest. I still listen to it all the time- from first song to the last song it is truly fantastic.
It's only flaw is that it's too perfect.
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