Right. First things first. I love Grizzly Bear. I mean, *love*. I cannot fully express my admiration for the Veckatamist album. I think Daniel Rossen has a voice and a singular and peculiar ear for melody that make him stand out a mile from his contemporaries.
So I’ve been waiting for a new album. And waiting. And waiting. Apparently this year. Or maybe not.
And then suddenly I hear a song on the radio yesterday and I was like – that HAS to be Grizzly Bear. Well, it is. And it isn’t. It’s Daniel Rossen on his own, who’s just released a solo EP. And wow, what a piece of work it is.
Here’s the single:
And here’s him doing an astonishing live performance of one of the other tracks.
Tell me you love this. I think I’ll be sad if you don’t.
thisisnothappening.net 
Hey. You’ve just motivated me to dust off Vekatamist. To be honest it does need dusting off. I’ve always had such an odd relationship with that album. I know it is brilliant. I know this. I listen to it and think … yeah that’s brilliant. Then it sits on my shelf for another 6 months. I just don’t get to round to listening to it or being driven to listening to it. I am listening to it again now. Once more I am thinking it’s brilliant. I know its a better album than Yellow House but I listen to Yellow House much more. Never quite been able to out my finger on that one.As for the new tracks. I’ve only listened to the Single. And it is a hell of a track. Very Beatles heavy. It sounds like the beatles influenced tracks of Vekatamist but then some. Nice. Not heard the live tracks yet but I will.
Veckatimest was a sensational album. And I’m going to do the same on the way home. I got into them, Midlake and the Decemberists around the same time and that was a fantastic 6 months. It’s just a beautiful album. And then, watching Blue Valentine, which was amazing (and very depressing, in a beautiful way) and hearing them all over again was a thing of wonder. Seeing as I can’t see Youtube at work I’ll check this later. If I ever get home *grump*
Is Blue Valentine any good?
I’m biased becausea) I think Ryan Gosling is amazing, a brilliant actor, and does this character perfectly. Mixture of pathos and irritation. b) Michelle Williams is brilliant, and my future wife. It’s not date film, but one of the best-acted and most realistic (and heart-wrenching) films about a relationship I’ve ever watched. Go see/rent/rip off etc.
Blue Valentine is INCREDIBLE. But a warning: it’s also really really fucking bleak. The two leads are out of this world. But it’s a real heart-breaker.
What David said. It was brilliant, but not sure I could watch this twice.
Ha. Im all about bleak. Bring on the bleak 🙂 I will head your warning and be careful when I watch it. Its on Instant Watch with package on Love Film.
David has hot the nail on the head with Blue Valentine. Going by the trailer it looked to be a bit of a nice arty movie about young romance…… it couldn’t be any further. With that it is done really well!
I’m always ‘hot’ on the ‘nail’ 😉
I like the idea that plenty of couples saw the trailer and thought it was a romcom. And then had the most uncomfortable night in EVER.
Just watched it. Pretty bleak eh. I did like it. Didn’t love it. Not sure why American indie films always have to portray young love as so ‘crazy’ and ‘kookie’ (is that how spell *kookie*? I went for *cookie* first but pretty sure that’s a big biscuit?). Hard hitting though which is a tribute to the script and acting regardless of the ‘kook’. Do we need to start a film blog? I’ve only been to the cinema once since Silvia was born (the Senna documentary – gobsmaking documentary making!) but we used to go twice a week pre-Silvia. I miss it madly and have to wait for DVDs now.
I think it’s a ‘bit’ of kook, but mostly it’s brilliantly acted, and the way they are as man and wife is so realistic. It’s watching those cracks appear and then attempts to spark it back up as the whole thing falls apart, intercut with the ‘good’ moments that are brilliant. I don’t think it’s that crazy. I guess we don’t identify as well with the small-town life of the US. It’s like our kitchen sink dramas, Ken Loach stuff, the Yanks probably complain that we always make stuff so gritty and miserable (but the alternative is Love Actually. UGH). So works both ways. I am a bit of a film obessive, but current workloads are crushing my ability to watch anything.
Funny, I didn’t find it ‘kooky’ in the slightest. I have a VERY low threshold for that kind of stuff. I thought it was going to be a load more contrived and indie than it was. I find them both horribly real and the cracks in their relationship were so beautifully drawn. It was pretty hard to watch at times.Brother Joseph, I’m with you all the way on missing the cinema. Miss it SO much. Go almost never. Ah, the things you do for parenthood…
Ah balls! I just replied the longest reply and then lost it!
Ah, its spelt ‘Kooky’?!To be honest, I am being (i) a grumpy old man (ii) complaining about one scene really. Please tell me this doesn’t fall into ‘kooky’.Gosling makes a long journey on public transport to take a locket back to the old man he’s moved into a home / try and hit on Williams via her Gran (dude!). With him, just in case, he takes a ukylele. He bumps into her on the bus. They walk slowly around the town ‘meeting each other’. He plays and sings to her infront of a shop with a heart shaped wreath on it at night, while she tap dances and giggles. My heart sunk as soon as i saw the ukylele. It could only end one way.
I’m with you on the ukelele, it was sailing pretty close to the wind, but I think the point was twofold: 1) it was part of the male character, but I think it was purposefully done as he’d seen the girl before and I think it was in his mind to try and be a bit kooky or daft as it was part of the act to win her, if he saw her. It was over the top, but it was good at at least showing how people do daft things to try and win people in love. 2) But it was also a great comparison between the carefree, early days of the meeting and relationship, against how far down it’d gone, and how he’d fallen. It was great they way the scenes were cut so that you had this daft joy between them then utter bleakness. That was one of the stregnths of the film, the clever way it was broken up. But it was fantastic, even if that part did make me wince a bit. They pulled the rug out from under it pretty quickly, which made it ok.
And I’m about as opinionated about cinema as I am about music and art. I’d love to dsicsuss films. I’m happy to do it on here though (on a seperate post).
Ok. New post coming up soon.