Grizzly Bear - Yellow House (2006)

ARTIST: Grizzly Bear
TITLE: Yellow House
LABEL: Warp Records
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 320kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 50m total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-09-05
RIP DATE: 2006-06-25

Track List
----------
1. Easier 3:43
2. Lullabye 5:14
3. Knife 5:14
4. Central and Remote 4:54
5. Little Brother 6:24
6. Plans 4:16
7. Marla 4:56
8. On a Neck, On a Spit 5:46
9. Reprise 3:19
10. Colorado 6:14

Release Notes:

Home-recorded songs can feel incomplete whilst being as tantalizingly indicative
as the sketches before a painting. The outlines, though interesting in their own
respect, are not as satisfying as the finished version. Grizzly Bear, however,
have approached song writing as a craft to master from their very first album,
Horn of Plenty onwards. Enamored by how a song "reads", they were fully present
from prologue to denouement even though singer/songwriter Edward Droste recorded
them by himself in his Brooklyn bedroom. Fuelled by a bout of post-relationship
inspiration, those first songs celebrated the creative liberation of the
ProTools era. They explored the depths of break-ups through crystal-clear tones,
field sounds and woozy, complex harmonies.

Droste has now gathered a band: Christopher Bear (name entirely coincidental)
played drums and helped polish Horn of Plenty in its final stages; Chris Taylor
soon followed the duo post HOP release and was responsible for electronics,
woodwinds and bass; Daniel Rossen sang, played guitar and contributed new songs.
The line-up was complete, and as a newly established four piece, they began
musical exploration. The music was sweet, and the instrumentation and live show
grew in ambition. The songs were remixed by figureheads at the forefront of the
electronic music scene: Efterklang, Dntel and Soft Pink Truth.

The new material that comprises Yellow House (released on Warp Records on
September 4th) puts the band at the vanguard of contemporary song writing. The
album was self-recorded during an idyllic summer. The makeshift studio was
provided by Droste's mom's living room in a yellow house just off Cape Cod.

Magical, haunting melodies are still their mainstay. Grizzly Bear always craft
their songs from start to finish - meticulous instrumentation and arrangements
are their specialty. On Yellow House, Grizzly Bear still flex their lo-fi
connoisseurship, but with a better recording - DIY embellished with Taylor's
fine sonic engineering acumen. Droste and Rossen share initial song writing
duties, although the entire band collaborates to breath life into the tracks.

Grizzly Bear rediscovered "Marla" - a lovely downtrodden waltz written by
Droste's aunt in the 1930s - and rescued it from history and revamped it in
signature Grizzly Bear style: with piano, strings, brushed drums and haunting
layered voices, dusted over with the faintest hint of electronics. It sounds
like a gorgeous day in a dusty attic. Then there is "Little Brother", a folky
guitar piece flanked by flute, and "Lullabye," the sweetest
cirrus-cloud-of-a-piece hinged on the hopeful chorus, "Chin up! Cheer up!" The
phrase is layered to a massive crescendo of voices, and sounds like a sacred
incantation. "Knife" is pure, sublime Grizzly Bear. "Colorado" is an enveloping,
sweeping, and dare I say epic-sounding finale to a far-reaching and ambitious
album.

Grizzly Bear do not skimp. They're remarkable not just for their attention to
detail but for their concern for how a song FEELS: flush with heart and
melancholy, their music is seductive and intimate, deep with hazy-eyed choruses,
whistles, piano and banjo. They know melody and ambiance are necessary
complements. This is experimental mood music with love for classics and
standards. It's the kind of stuff you yearn to crank up when you're lying in bed
on a Sunday.

Grizzly Bear now calls Warp Records home. The label is well known for nurturing
talents like Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Jamie Lidell, Maximo Park, Broadcast and
Prefuse 73. Yellow House, will mark the bands debut for the label, melding the
guerrilla spirit of the digital age with the classic American songbook.

Grizzly Bear is Christopher Bear (drummer/vocals), Edward Droste
(singer/guitarist), Daniel Rossen (singer/guitarist) and Christopher Taylor
(bass/woodwinds/electronics).