Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear
Veckatimest
by xiao


I had might as well get it out of the way: Grizzly Bear is not a band I'm familiar with. Their latest release, Veckatimest, however, caught my eye when I heard the lead single "Two Weeks", which sported a good-olde-romp feeling, complete with feelgood piano and smooth vocals, all backed by a joyous melodic chorus. After downl... er, purchasing the album, I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer polish on each and every track on the album.

"Southern Point" starts Veckatimest with a gloriously mysterious sounding hum, which eventually explodes into an acoustic anthem reminescent of Animal Collective or all the best bits of Vampire Weekend. "Cheerleader" also has a certain happy sway to it that's rather infectious. While there are certainly highlights here, this is another album that would be best to listen to from start to finish. Every track is polished, brimming over with ideas that both feel fondly sentimental and yet entirely new, and for that, it's worth every torren... um, penny.