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>> POPULAR BUT MELANCHOLY GROUP OPENS FOR RADIOHEAD, AND HEADLINES UNIQUE VENUE IN WASHINGTON THIS MONDAY LIVE FROM BROOKLYN: A BROODING GRIZZLY BEAR

August 7, 2008 12:15 am

BY MATT CAMERON

Grizzly Bear is a fascinating musical specimen. One of the multitude of young bands to come out of Brooklyn over the past few years, the quartet has consistently defied musical norms during its four years of existence.

Whereas fellow up-and-coming Brooklyn bands Vampire Weekend and MGMT have stuck to traditional, easy-to-appreciate indie tunes, Grizzly Bear has perfected a form of melancholy and atmospheric folk rock that has rarely made it beyond the fringe of modern music.

All this, even as the band has gained a larger and larger following with its two most recent releases: 2006's "Yellow House" and 2007's "Friend EP."

In addition to recording, Grizzly Bear has also been girding up for a slate of live shows opening for the exalted Radiohead. The tour began this past weekend in Chicago with a performance at Lollapalooza, one of the premier music festivals in the country--and one of the few that Grizzly Bear had yet to play.

With these achievements under their belts and the burden of fans' expectations on their collective back, the members of Grizzly Bear have been keeping very busy, said songwriter and guitarist Ed Droste in a recent telephone interview.

Droste, who originally founded Grizzly Bear as a solo project in 2004, spent the majority of the interview talking about the band's plans for its upcoming album, as well as several huge late-summer shows, including one at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington.

Droste sounded particularly excited about the new album, which he said the band had been recording since early July and is about half-way ready for its early 2009 release.

He said that the band aims to make its new music more accessible by changing pace from the slow-moving "Yellow House."

The new album is "a bit more diverse, like a bit more sonically dynamic," Droste said, whereas "the lushness factor and the layers of it ['Yellow House'] kind of kept it going at the same tempo."

He referenced "Two Weeks," a new track that the band performed recently on the "Late Show With David Letterman," as an example of what is to come.

"It's probably one of the more upbeat, poppy numbers we've done."

Droste notes that despite his band being revered by many as one of the world's premier live bands--music blog Stereogum named Grizzly Bear's performance at the New York Society for Ethical Culture the best live show of 2007--the shows aren't for everybody.

"If you want to dance around and party, we're definitely not that," he said. "But everyone plays an instrument almost all the time; everyone is singing all the time; and generally speaking, we've really practiced our harmonies and sticking together in unison."

Droste also said that the band's performances at such unique venues as the NYSEC and Sixth & I Synagogue are no accident.

"We're really into playing alternative venues, sometimes seated, sometimes not," he said. "Generally speaking, I think it makes for a more memorable experience than your run-of-the-mill rock club."

Droste added that music festivals often aren't the "ideal venue" for seeing the band live--but the band planned on tailoring its set for Lollapalooza to make it more enjoyable for fans.

"We're not going to play our slower, stripped-down songs," he said. "They are engaging in a different way, but it's not right for the end of the day for all sorts of people who are drunk and waiting for Radiohead to play."

Those looking for a vintage Grizzly Bear performance along the lines of the epic NYSEC set, however, need look no further than next week's performance at the Sixth & I Synagogue.

"Our set in D.C. will be a lot more varied than our Radiohead set will be," Droste said. "Our Radiohead set is just like 40 minutes of powering through potential crowd pleasers--hopefully crowd pleasers."

Matt Cameron: 540/374-5429
Email: itmagazine@freelancestar.com