It's poppier, darker, louder, quieter and a heroically creative album. Print edition onlyįor the first half alone, Shields marks a great advance for Grizzly Bear Grizzly Bear are now reaching for greatness. The scale of Grizzly Bear’s previous soundscapes has been somewhat pulled back, but don’t let that give you any false impressions of a band lacking in ideas They're getting more intriguing as they go on: an object lesson in the value of allowing things to progress at their own pace While it's not as obviously big a statement as Veckatimest was, Shields is plenty ambitious in its own right, and its complexity demands and rewards patient listening They still sound like Radiohead at a Buddhist retreat, but the songs are more muscular
Grizzly bear shields live free#
Like Wild Beasts on last year's Smother, Shields finds Grizzly Bear hitting a more confident note, free of the youthful urge to 'show 'em what you got by tossing everything into the pot' that marked earlier albumsīeautiful as Grizzly Bear is, they remain an emotionally cloistered lover, willing only to speak in vagaries, never of concrete emotional needs They sound more resolute yet playful than ever before Shields is all about journeys and discovery, taking the listener on a treasure hunt in Grizzly Bear’s intricate and this time totally rewarding compositions Though at time reaching heavenly heights, Shields is, as the name suggests, a heavy, protected album, stuffy with an ennui particular to the young and gifted This band, fussy or not, is making some of the most moving music of the year
It’s just with Shields, they have finally mastered the formula to create a beautifully coherent whole It builds these barriers sonically, then crashes through themĮvery Grizzly Bear album has its awesome moments and this one is no different. This is an ensemble that seems to have reached a sort of pinnacle in collaboration and musical communicationĪ band that continues to challenge and captivate in ways that are entirely their ownĪesthetically, Shields defends Grizzly Bears overarching vision by having its most dissimilar sounds and styles tear each other apart. With Shields, Grizzly Bear make certain demands - hold still, listen closely - that seem downright radical in a busy and impatient world On an album that touches repeatedly on the barriers people build between each other, the members of Grizzly Bear have forged further ahead into sweet synchronicity Shields works because of its complexity rather than in spite of it Where Grizzly Bear make leaps the most on Shields in being able to give their songs space after having grounded them, to let them move around again and trawl back into the wilderness This is not just any album it is the best album of 2012 and quite possibly of many more years to come. Sort by ADM rating Sort by most recent review