Grizzly Bear is back from hibernation. Three years after their 2009 breakthrough album, “Veckatimest,” this Brooklyn quartet has returned to the music scene refreshed and ready to impress with their fourth and newest album, “Shields.”
With nearly a minute-long intro and sparse lyrics, the lead track “Sleeping Ute” gently eases the listener into the album. “Sleeping Ute,” as well as the other songs on the album, stays true to the Grizzly Bear sound: soulful lyrics intermixing with dynamic rhythms, varying from chaotic guitar rifts to intricate finger pickings. Caught somewhere between folk-rock and psychedelic pop, “Shields” is no easier to pigeonhole into one musical genre than the band’s preceding albums.
The lyrics of “Sleeping Ute” are equally enigmatic: “And those figures through the leaves / And that light through the smoke / And those countless empty days / Made me dizzy when I woke.”
Expressions such as these seem to pour from private thoughts, as if the listener was a close confidant of lead singer Edward Droste, invited to have an intimate chat.
The next few songs on the album, “Speak in Rounds” and “Yet Again” are both powered by a rollicking lead guitar, while, further down the track list, “A Simple Answer” has a surprisingly strong keyboard and horn influence, giving it a jazzy, mournful feel.
Think Fleet Foxes meets Young the Giant.
The album again switches gears with “Gun-shy” and “What’s Wrong”, which showcase the band’s specialty: intricate vocal harmonies that intermittently fade into melancholic cymbals and thundering drums.
The last track on the album, “Sun in Your Eyes,” finds itself somewhere between tender and tough, where delicate drum rolls and breezy piano chords meet with robust vocals.
This seven-minute finale is the icing on a multi-layered cake, each bite tasting slightly different from the next.
With 10 songs in 48 minutes, “Shields” uses its time wisely, keeping the listener guessing and making no two songs completely alike.
This lack of uniformity may cause some fans to mourn the consistency of previous Grizzly Bear albums, where each song seamlessly slides into the next track, creating one even sound.
With “Shields” however, the listener must be prepared to adjust their musical mood from track to track.
Although this album may keep the listener guessing, it still manages to retain classic Grizzly Bear sounds that listeners have come to know and love, interweaving surprising sound distortions and tempo shifts into its tracks.
Both sophisticated and soulful, “Shields” will certainly win its way onto listeners’ iTunes favorites list.
““ Justina Coelho
Email Coelho at jcoelho@media.ucla.edu.