Grizzly Bear Live at the Vogue in Vancouver

Yellow House and Veckatimest Get a Good Airing at BC Gig

Oct 15, 2009 Mikala Taylor

Grizzly Bear the band visited Vancouver's Vogue Theatre on October 14 and brought with them stunning harmonies and a truck-load of indie rock cred.

Darlings of the indie scene, a Radiohead’s favourite band, kings to both 17-year-old girls with braces and ironic tees and 30-year-old black-framed glasses-wearing hipsters, Grizzly Bear are the kind of band you sort of want to hate on paper.

Picture it: four cool Brooklynites, plaid shirts, floppy fringes, and the combined look of an NYU grad student discussion group. Marry that with a sound that has evolved from a sort of mumbly, unsettling, music-to-score Sundance films to, to a more open, laconic Beach Boys vibe, all filled with harmonies and effects...and it screams pretension.

But really, Grizzly Bear are actually quite wonderful. Maybe not the most dynamic live act on the circuit but really, what do you expect from a band whose trade is dedicated to four-part harmonies (yes! Even the drummer!) and slacker folk?

No, the real thing about Grizzly Bear is the vocals. Like Seattle’s Fleet Foxes, it’s all about the vocals. The way singer/guitarists Daniel Rossen and Edward Droste bend and layer and let them fly over songs that range from quiet and pretty to creepy and gritty is kind of cool. Add in wah-oo- wah vocal effects by bassist Chris Taylor and extra vocals from drummer Christopher Bear, and it’s something special.

From Veckatimest and Yellow House, With Love

Tonight, opener “Southern Point” from latest album Veckatimest, is a fair enough start, with that typical alternative-jazzy-samba-lo-fi thing going for it, and is set against a backdrop of light-bulbs hanging in jars. It’s alright. But it takes a glitchy false start, then brilliant resuscitation of “Cheerleader” to get the audience swooning. Droste’s voice sounds pristine – though this version is a bit sexier, dirtier.

The noodly psychedelia of “Lullabye” from 2006’s Yellow House has Droste playing autoharp, practically begging “chin up, cheer up” before the band launches into another Yellow House track, “Little Brother”, which starts slowly but ends heavily. “My God, that’s not the way,” Rossen sings on repeat, and the angst drips down the theatre walls.

The Beauty of Ed Droste

But as good as Rossen is, he doesn’t connect in the way Droste does. During this set, the best moments belong to Droste. His eerie “Colorado” is intense, “Knife” is an effect-heavy and trippy 60s sway, “Fine for Now” has a bit of a swing and “Two Weeks” gets cheers. The gorgeous “Ready, Able” (among the best from Veckatimest) is haunting.

Even with grizzlier tracks like “On a Neck, On a Spit”, the voices are crisp, and the sound is album-perfect. This is a well-toured band. Perhaps a bit too well-toured - there isn’t enough chit chat tonight. But all changes when the band returns to play its one encore.

When a guy in the audience professes his love for the band by shouting “We want you inside of us”. Droste is really tickled. All smiles, he replies: “That’s really cool. One at a time, please,” while cute bassist Taylor jokes about how “welcoming” Vancouver is. “This song is for that dude,” Droste quips, before launching into the slithery cover of the 1962 Crystals classic, “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss).

It’s nice to see the serious boys smile, and it makes you like Grizzly Bear. Even on paper.

Grizzly Bear were presented at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, BC by Sealed With a Kiss

The copyright of the article Grizzly Bear Live at the Vogue in Vancouver in Indie Music is owned by Mikala Taylor. Permission to republish Grizzly Bear Live at the Vogue in Vancouver in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.