FEATURED INTERVIEWS

Sonic Youth, 2009

Grizzly Bear, 2009

Yo La Tengo, 2009

Michael Stipe, 2008

Stephen Malkmus, 2008

Conor Oberst, 2007

The Long Blondes, 2006



FEATURED REVIEWS

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, 2008

Beach House, 2008

The Clientele, 2007

Frida Hyvönen, 2006

Ladybug Transistor, 2006

Hidden Cameras, 2006

Grizzly Bear
Back to Save the Universe
+ Big Takeover magazine, Fall 2009 +


As a part of the most hyped indie band of 2009, and justifiably so, after releasing their magnum opus Veckatimest to heaps of critical praise, Grizzly Bear’s co singer/guitarist Daniel Rossen is decidedly unfazed by the accolades, having set his success threshold bar low long ago. He explains, “I didn’t ever see myself being in a band, ever. [laughs] I always wanted to make music, but I never thought I’d be involved with anything even as successful as Yellow House [2006]. That’s all I could really ask for. Beyond that, it would just make you crazy. You make it because you love it, and if you can do that, you’re very lucky.”

And Veckatimest was obviously a record made by four men who love what they’re doing, sounding like a glistening sonic artifact eerily dislocated from time and distance. The vertiginous Nico Mulhy-orchestrated swirl of “Ready Able,” and the swelling chamber ditty “I Live With You” astound, while Ed Droste’s Roy Orbison-like falsetto bleeds effortlessly into Rossen’s vibrato lead on the sepulchral dirge “Fine For Now.” But strip away the lapidary and Veckatimest has a more visceral feel than its predecessor, thanks in part to its gestation taking an unexpected detour when the band were given the opportunity to open for Radiohead in 2008.
    
Rossen says, “The only songs we’d played for an audience on Yellow House were ‘Lullabye’ and ‘Knife.’ With this record, there’s a lot more material we’d actually played live, and that helped us learn more about how we aplayed them on the record.” And the shows were something of a dream come true for Rossen.  He beams, “Radiohead were just sweet people. We really respect that band, and it was an absolute honor. Very surreal. When I was a teenager I completely idolized them, and they were one of the only bands I was completely obsessed with. So it was great to relive the teenage enthusiasm.”
    
Rossen also moonlights as Department of Eagles, a solo moniker under which he released the terrific In Ear Park in  2008. Yet, there’s a clear demarcation between the bands. “Grizzly Bear’s a lot more collaborative, where as Department of Eagles is a record with a specific set of themes. What works in Grizzly Bear is more extroverted, and playful maybe. The Department of Eagles stuff is more introverted and pre-designed. When you’re in a band it’s good to be playful.”
      
After enthusing about what a profound influence Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle [1968] had on him (“Just amazing and nightmarish”) and revealing a current obsession with Bulgarian Choral music, Rossen offers an brief assessment of what’s to come from the band. “There’s nothing cohesive, and everybody in our band has different interests at all times. Even in the end when we come together, we don’t know what its going to be. There’s gonna need to be a few months of just living at home to figure out what’s coming next. It can be a lot of pressure sometimes [laughs], but it’s great to be able to do this as our jobs. That’s an amazing thing.”