Grizzly Bear does it again, combining melodic singing and flawless sounds of instruments to make beautiful music.
The semi well-known, indie-rock band originated in Brooklyn, New York in 2002. Starting as a solo project, the name Grizzly Bear came from a nickname of an old boyfriend of Edward Droste, the lead singer. Later on he started to add more members to the band (Daniel Rossen, Christopher Bear, Chris Taylor) and they began to take on bigger projects.
“Shields”, which came out on September 18, is full of the good old Grizzly Bear sounds (like the ones from Yellow House and Veckatimest) and definitely includes some of their best songs so far. Having a dynamic mix of guitar, vivacious keyboard, drums and rich vocals, “Shields” is Grizzly Bear’s best album.
The song “Gun Shy” is slow-paced but very satisfying. It includes various melodies of voices by the outstanding quartet. The tune flows nicely and creates a pleasantly placid song.
“A Simple Answer” quite simply is a very happy, feel-good, entertaining song. There are various wacky sounds in the song, one of them being a cartoonish spring bounce. Its scintillating variety and weirdness makes the song easy to appreciate.
“The Hunt” is another slow-paced, relaxing song in this album. It has a calm beat that doesn’t’t get to crazy and is slow enough for you to really appreciate the singing, which is the best part. This song almost had a soothing, therapeutic, effect on me while I was listening to it.
The big hit of the album is “Yet Again”, which was released as a single earlier this year, and I can see why. It has an immense variety of sounds and instruments, such as some Spanish-styled guitar and flashy keyboard. It also has a continual but diverse beat that is backed up by flawless singing.
My favorite song of the album is “Speak In Rounds”, and although it starts of with a weird beat and consistent guitar, it turns out to be pretty good. The song picks up and has quick guitar and exuberant drumming which got me bouncing a little bit.
“Shields” has the type of music to turn up loud while you are winding down after a long day. Grizzly Bear has created yet another great album that exposes their talent. “Shields” is an animated, thrilling and captivating album that I liked more and more with every song.
