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Or hear the way the ’70s play into the overarching genre mesh in spades, via Fleetwood Mac and “Speak In Rounds” and also via the Gerry Rafferty-intoning yacht rock showcase “Gun-Shy.” Or hear the way jazz figures into the brew, more potently than ever before, via “What’s Wrong” and “Sun In Your Eyes,” the album’s pair of scenery-chewing epics, both of which lean heavily (and uncoincidentally) on Chris Bear’s ride cymbal patterns and drum filigree. Similarly, the ideas in Shields are stitched into a tapestry that methodically capitalizes on the band members’ divergent interests: hear the way the ’70s classic rock of “Speak In Rounds” seamlessly dips into the warped electronic weirdness that then becomes “Adelma,” a sound experiment and mood-setter probably helmed by bassist/string-and-woodwind-arranger/producer Chris Taylor, whose CANT project (and other production work) it echoes.
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Yellow House was immersive and transportive, a series of interconnected, sepia-toned suites, rather than playing like the set of discrete songs helmed by their respective writers that Veckatimest could be. In that way, Shields recalls what Grizzly Bear did so remarkably on Yellow House, despite being a louder, crazier, poppier collection. Shields plays like a truly collaborative effort, the product of a band blessed by four musicians with distinct voices and great aesthetic curiosity - independently prolific when not creating together - finding an unlikely but completely organic common ground between rock, jazz, folk, symphonic accouterment, electronic experimentalism, and avant grandiosity. Then there’s the tracklist’s twin pop-pillars in the aforementioned “Yet Again” coupled with Dan Rossen’s own ace turn in the propulsive, instantly memorable, sure-to-be-a-single “A Simple Answer,” important check boxes analogous to Veckatimest’s supreme entry points “Two Weeks” and “While You Wait For The Others.” In fact, that’s a lesson and a blueprint wisely learned by the success of Veckatimest: make sure your pair of celebrated songwriters each have their immediately alluring pop gem, because it makes promotion easier.īut the great joy of Shields is that it is nowhere near as dualistic and polarized as all of that might suggest, and as Veckatimest sometimes felt. There was the roll-out, which conformed expectations around the progged-out and knotty “Sleeping Ute” before drizzling the album’s most honeyed Droste-pop moment “ Yet Again,” both of which helped calibrate the record’s polarities. Instead let’s focus on the myriad mechanics that make this the case.Īs both an art piece and a product, Shields is masterfully executed. 2012 isn’t done so we’ll shelve the AOTY talk, aside from stipulating that the shortlist just got one entry longer. Shields is officially out now, and Grizzly Bear’s fourth full-length is in a league with this year’s finest. On some other week, or on this one with a weaker showing from Grizzly Bear, those aforementioned records could easily have won this slot as you all well know from our Comment Party last week, though, there’s only room for one record today. But while it is worth noting that Grizzly Bear is sort of the hometeam around here, it’s also equally important to note that being the hometeam in a town that’s quick to spot slippage is unenviable.
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This slate on September 18th is actually full of great efforts by a broad set of worthy artists, all situated in the upper echelon of their respective niches - see the laptop-enabled R&B redux of How To Dress Well’s Total Loss, the tenth set from evergreen fuzzbox titans Dinosaur Jr and their I Bet On Sky, and the Killers’ bold and artful widescreen mainstream American rock record Battle Born. It’s not to say that the Album Of The Week selection for this second week of September has always been a foregone conclusion.