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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > June > 17 > Entry
Review: Grizzly Bear at the Parish
Brooklyn-based indie breakouts Grizzly Bear were last in Austin for South by Southwest, when they played a showcase at the Central Presbyterian Church. It was an intimate affair, with well-connected fans sitting cross-legged in the aisles, fighting for space.
Since then the band released the “Veckatimest,” the wildly successful follow-up to 2004’s “Yellow House,” have had their praises sung by just about every blogger and music critic on the planet and even covered “Graceland” (check out an mp3 of the performance here) at a Paul Simon tribute concert that also included appearances by Gillian Welch and Simon himself.
This time around they played the Parish to a crowd that was no less enthusiastic (although probably a bit more tipsy).
Opening was Here We Go Magic, a lo-fi psychedelic project led by Luke Temple. Fans of Grizzly Bear and bands such as Animal Collective will want to check out HWGM for its blend of folky rock songs and layers of percussion, vocal loops and other effects. Temple saved two standouts from the band’s self-titled debut, “Fangela” and “Tunnelvision,” for the end of the set. On “Fangela,” he did too good a job mimicking his muted studio recording; the song suffered a bit as a result. “Tunnelvision,” on the other hand, was sharper; members of the band sang the looped parts rather than producing them on a laptop.
Grizzly Bear set the tone for the evening with a pumped up “Southern Point” and “Cheerleader,” both from “Veckatimest,” and a discordant “Lullabye,” from “Yellow House.” The songs are simultaneously gentle and aggressive, with quiet folk tunes that erupt into noisy jams with haunting harmonies and catchy, not-quite-country rhythms.
The noisier side of the band won out for much of Tuesday’s set, with both Droste and Rossen elevating more sedate numbers with aggressive guitar work, especially the bluesy “Little Brother” and “Fine For Now.” Coupled with spacey lighting, it almost felt like a rock show. The punch of the rougher moments, of course, wouldn’t have been as moving without well-placed quiet, including the sleepy “Colorado,” as well as “He Hit Me,” a dark love song on which Droste’s smooth vocals absolutely shined.
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