Grizzly Bear and Final Fantasy get the string treatment in Brooklyn

February 28, 2009, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

By Natasha Ryan
Published: March 3rd, 2009 | 12:15am

Saturday evening stirred excitement and nerves for Grizzly Bear. Not only was the band playing a sold-out show with the Brooklyn Philharmonic — a giddy notion daunted by the task of staying in precise tempo — but it also was the first time many songs, new and old, would be revealed to the public. Nico Muhly, the young classical composer who contributed the string and choir arrangements for the group’s upcoming album Veckatimest (Warp), also created the orchestra arrangements for Grizzly Bear’s performance. The effort was part of the program “BP Presents,” which features indie and other non-classical artists collaborating with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

The theater was packed unusually early, as no one dared to miss a note of the opener, Toronto’s Owen Pallett, known on stage as Final Fantasy. It was a strange sight to see the classically trained violinist positioned behind a piano. Rolling waves of thunderous percussion with trickling handclaps punctuated the silence in between Pallett’s lush vocals in “None of You Will Ever See a Penny” from 2005’s Has a Good Home (Tomlab). The sonic heights of the orchestra rounded out his compositions, which teetered between dramatic, robust textures and whimsical, spritely bursts. “I’m a real control freak,” Pallett explained of the absence of his violin looping. “Usually I play by myself with a laptop, so this is a real exercise in trust.” He introduced two new songs, the second of which featured a breathtaking crescendo of strings and brass. It was obvious that his compositions provided the space for the elaborate layers to flourish, not detract.

After a brief intermission, a nervous Grizzly Bear took the stage as the crowd erupted into a bellowing applause. They opened with the folky “Easier,” off of 2006’s Yellow House (Warp), which featured members of the National on banjo and guitar. The band reinterpreted older songs, adding a cinematic roar to “Central and Remote,” and debuted new ones, like the velveteen, atmospheric sound of ”Ready, Able.” The show-stealing “Colorado” was tastefully balanced with subtle ornamental tones and peaking woodwinds. Watching the multi-instrumentalists in Grizzly Bear was mesmerizing: They’d quickly switch seats, swap out instruments, and resume the next song before one could blink.

“Two Weeks,” the Veckatimest track penned by vocalist Ed Droste and drummer Christopher Bear, is one of the poppiest pieces from the group yet and grabbed some airtime on the Late Show with David Letterman. So when the first buoyant, fuzzy notes drifted from Daniel Rossen’s keyboard, the crowd cheered in recognition. Droste’s reverbed crooning soared amid Chris Taylor’s falsetto sighs and grounded itself in tightly woven vocal harmonies with Rossen. And as Droste nursed rich synthetic tones from his omnichord, Muhly played the spiraling arpeggios on celeste while Bear provided relaxed drumbeats. For the first time during the set, the members of the orchestra loosened their grip on their instruments. The lights darkened on their section and brightened above Grizzly Bear, directing our attention to the brilliance of the perfected pop melody, which shined with sparse instrumentation.

In fact, Grizzly Bear played many of its songs sans orchestra. “Little Brother” and “While you Wait for the Others” showcased Rossen’s gravelly vocals and atypical guitar chords, and the encore of the un-tempered “Deep Blue Sea” and cover of the Crystals’ “He Hit Me (But it Felt Like a Kiss)” traversed familiar territory.

The absence of the oft-remixed hit “Knife,” was only a minor surprise, as Droste had alluded to its back-burner status in lieu of focusing on Veckatemist in several interviews. The unreleased album has been promised to be more immediate than the nuanced, wandering arrangements of Grizzly Bear’s previous albums — perhaps a result of the tighter collaboration from all four members.

Taking a minute to ingest the aesthetics of the evening — the beautiful seated venue, emotively matched lighting, and the majestic sprawl of the orchestra — it dawned that the prospect of hearing some of these renditions again was very unlikely. And the realization held a tight, bittersweet grip on the fleeting moment.
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For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page.
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Review of Grizzly Bear at Pitchfork Music Festival