Las Vegas Weekly

[Folk-Pop ]

Grizzly Bear

Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest

On the off chance that anyone reading this has control over anything pertaining to a possible afterlife scenario, I’d be most appreciative if mine could sound like “Two Weeks,” the first single off third Grizzly Bear record Veckatimest. More accurately, I’d love it if the experience could feel the way “Two Weeks” sounds, its rich four-part harmonies and sunny pop melody all warm and wondrous, like that moment when cotton candy first touches your tongue.

The song is so mesmerizing, it almost makes me yearn for 11 others just like it. Almost. Instead, I’m grateful its catchiness comes on amid the subtler textures found throughout Veckatimest, the Brooklyn-based Bear’s most consistent disc to date. The overt charms—the hum-alongs of “While You Wait for the Others” and toe-taps of “Cheerleader”—are sprinkled among the delicate folk stuff that constitutes the majority of the album, making for a more challenging, and ultimately more rewarding, experience than some hook-fest could have hoped to be.

More

Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest

Beyond the Weekly

Grizzly Bear

The longer I listen, the more the pauses in the action become the action itself. “Ready, Able” begins as little more than a vocal with a pulse before coalescing into addictive orchestral ambrosia. “I Live With You” hovers just out of reach, then fuels up with some unexpectedly proggy electronics. “About Face” hypnotically repeats a central theme, drawing in instrumental ingredients as it simmers. And “All We Ask” seems to glide ever more confidently each time I hear its lilting pop-then-not arrangement. Only “Dory” and “Hold Still” haven’t transcended semi-amorphous art for me yet, so I expect they’ll be my favorites by the end of the year.

If I have any actual issue with Veckatimest, it’s that lead vocalist Ed Droste’s delivery sounds strangely similar to that of Donald Fagen on occasion (check “Fine for Now,” for example). Steely Dan is all right, but I’ve had my fill of Fagen in this life. No need to bring the guy along for whatever might come next.

aaaac