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theeverlastingshade · 6 years

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Grizzly Bear- Painted Ruins Tour

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of catching Grizzly Bear and Serpentwithfeet at Royal Oak Music Theatre as the former act were touring behind their most recent LP, Painted Ruins. Throughout the past decade Grizzly Bear have grown from Ed Droste’s bedroom lo-fi folk project into one of the most consistently rewarding bands of any genre. Painted Ruins altered their sound more than any record in their catalogue since Yellow House, but even while bathed in additional digital texture there’s no mistaking the sound of Grizzly Bear for any other band. The show that they performed lived up to the high bar set by most of their albums. While it’s hard to say if Grizzly Bear will ever release another album as phenomenal as Shields or Veckatimest, it seems certain that their singular live show is only going to grow more powerful with each successive release of theirs.

Serpentwithfeet opened for Grizzly Bear, and although he sang quietly behind unassuming gothic soul loops, his presence was undeniable. His delivery was in constant flux; at one moment he could be spitting double time flows and then an instant later he’s drawing out one word through several melodic phrases, but he never once seemed to stumble over his thorny vocal passages. Some of his songs seemed to bleed together or just linger in the ether before he struck a more notable transition, but by and large he delivered an immensely captivating performance. His vocal range itself simply astounds, and while he delivered the majority of his set with refreshing nuance, there were a few moments where he simply couldn’t help himself, and would soar to the limits of his register. Although he only has the Blisters EP to his name, I have no reason to doubt that Serpentwithfeet could go on to release plenty of extraordinary music if he so chooses.

After forty minutes or so Grizzly Bear finally emerged and took their well-documented, horizontal row position on stage with a fifth touring member, Aaron Arntz, working various electronics behind the four of them. Aside from the additional touring support, Grizzly Bear consists of Ed Droste on vocals, keyboards, a sampler, and occasional guitar; Daniel Rossen on vocals, guitar, and occasional keyboard; Chris Taylor on vocals, bass, saxophone, flute, and clarinet; and Christopher Bear on vocals and drums. Each song had either Droste or Rossen singing lead, with harmonies provided by the other, and the other two members frequently joining in with backing vocals. As soon as the band took the stage they jumped into “Four Cypresses”, one of the weaker singles from Painting Ruins. While still a good song, it’s far from one of their finest, but their live performance tore their recorded version to pieces, in effect setting the tone for the night.

While their albums strongly suggest they’re a studio band first and foremost, it’s no secret that each member of this band has some ridiculous chops, and the level of cohesion that exists within the sound of these four members playing together is practically unparalleled in contemporary music. Since Yellow House, Droste and Rossen have emerged as one of the finest songwriting duos this century, and they way they harmonize with one another and play off each other’s leads is the kind of magic that, while captured wonderfully on record, exists on a completely elevated level within a live context. Rossen’s playing, while stellar, is usually fairly reserved, so it was a treat to watch him left loose and absolutely shred a few times. Chris Taylor is an exceptional bass player, and while it’s easy to gloss over that when discussing his contributions to the band in favor of his consistently stellar production and the sheer range of instruments he brings to the table, it shouldn’t be understated just how singular and crucial his bass playing is in shaping their sound. Droste’s vocals actually sounded better live than they do on any Grizzly Bear album, and while Taylor and Bear rarely provide vocals more prominent than backup, it’s easy to overlook the fact that they’re both legitimately great singers in their own rights.

“Losing All Sight” and “Cut-Out” followed “Four Cypresses”, and both sounded more fleshed out, and adventurous than their studio versions. After these three songs Grizzly Bear began dipping into their pre-Painted Ruins material, beginning with the Shields highlight “Yet Again”. “Yet Again” is one of Grizzly Bear’s finest songs to date, and they completely delivered. Droste gave perhaps his strongest vocal performance of the evening, perfecting distilling the melancholy of “Take it all in stride/speak, don’t confide” and Rossen tore into a blistering solo throughout the coda, the likes of which seem to defy the very essence of Grizzly Bear. The only songs that they played during their set that disappointed were “Ready, Able” and “Neighbors”. They’re two of Grizzly Bear’s best songs, and the band was simply unable to convey the inherent bombast in each. The iconic ringing keys in the former were completely drowned out, while the latter didn’t feel like it was given enough time to develop organically. Aside from those two, every rendition sounded as good if not much better than it sounds on record.

In fact, save for “Neighbors”, everything that they played from Painted Ruins sounded better live than it does on that album. “Three Rings” is one of the best songs on Painted Ruins, and was completely amplified in a live context where the intricate instrumental interplay between bandmates is palpable. Both “Losing All Sense” and “Morning Sound” both sounded more fluid, and felt renewed with a sense of urgency absent on their recorded versions. “Four Cypresses”, while not a particularly ideal choice for an opening song, still sounded terrific and showcased some of Rossen’s finest singing throughout their entire set. Their performance really put into perspective just how dynamic much of Painted Ruins is, and how much those songs grow in power outside the confines of the studio. The new material worked seamlessly with their older work and illustrated that for all the additional texture and production sheen, these are still Grizzly Bear songs inside and out, and a few of them are right up there with the best music they’ve ever written.

Aside from the cuts that they played off of Painted Ruins, the band performed a fair number of their best songs to date, and they managed to strike an ideal balance between crowd pleasers and deep cuts. “Speak in Rounds” was a refreshing spike in tempo following the majority of the set, and seamlessly built off the momentum from “Morning Sound”. “Two Weeks” was a given, and Taylor’s harmonies were simply immaculate. “Two Weeks” also felt like a perfectly natural transition coming off of “Neighbors”, right before they segued into “Foreground”. As much as I enjoyed what followed, I almost wish they had ended their set with “Foreground”. Droste was at his most foreboding here, and the whole band lurched forward with an unsettling grace that’s utterly transfixing. “While You Wait for the Others” ended the main set, and following a brief departure from the stage the band returned for “Knife”, and “Sun in my Eyes”. The former had the best harmonies of anything they played that evening, and the latter, while not as ideal a closing song as “Foreground”, was nevertheless still a fitting, and superbly realized finale.

Grizzly Bear are over a decade removed from their breakthrough LP, and it’s reasonable to wonder how much more they have left in them as a working band. Painted Ruins took five years to materialize following Shields, and while it’s still a very good record in its own right, it doesn’t reach the impeccable heights of Shields or Veckatimest. As far as their live show is concerned, however, it’s hard to imagine they’ve ever been better. There’s a cohesiveness to their playing that greatly exceeds that of most groups, and along with their writing process, and stage set-up, the democratic tag that’s so generously applied to them couldn’t be more deservedly cliché. They’re the kind of band that, despite inevitable diminishing returns given they record long enough, I’d still want to go out of my way to see any chance that I get. Bands with the attention to craft that Grizzly Bear possess are far and few between, and there are very few thrills that compare to the sound of the four of them harmonizing over intricately layered psych-folk. It’s chaos, but it works.

#Grizzly Bear #painted ruins #serpentwithfeet

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