Spring Break
Friend
Grizzly Bear Warp Records- Nov. 7, 2007
Issue date: 11/8/07
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The EP is a tough format to tackle. It can either be approached as a mini-album, a suite of loosely-connect songs or it can be used to put a few decent yet not-decent-enough-to-be-on-the-record songs into circulation. In both cases, assembling a successful EP takes a bit of self-examination and a good deal of restraint.
Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear, never in want of introspection, eschews the latter on their latest EP, Friend, a too-long bundle of leftovers and covers that sounds less like "extended-play" and more like a haphazard collection of individual downloads from iTunes.
If Friend ended after track four, then it would be worthy of the EP moniker. The first four songs are the most cohesive, the most satisfying, and the only reason to invest in this collection instead of cherry-picking the interesting bits from the Internet.
Opener "Alligator (Choir Version)" rapidly evolves from wandering synths to a wall of crashing guitars and percussion. The song finds its footing midway with beautiful, staggered harmonies and it peaks with a blast of symphonic horns.
The cover of the Crystals' "He Hit Me" suits the bands love of reverb and androgynous vocals perfectly. Ed Droste is one of the few male vocalists who can sound believable singing "He hit me and it felt like a kiss."
The epic "Little Brother (Electric)" is a hook-fest that only starts to seem long when the band decides to fizzle out rather than end at the climax they've built up. "Shift (Alternate Version)," with its delightfully elusive lyrics that are either egotistical or masochistic, or both, is one of the best songs here, and manages to build a lot of momentum with layers of echoing piano and vocal decrescendos.
Once "Plans (Terrible vs. Nonhorse)" begins, Friend becomes a meandering mess. Restraint fails, and what would have been a solid four tracks turns into a questionable 10. Why stick a half-assed collage of gurgling white noise and arbitrary samples into the middle of your record if it doesn't segue into something compelling? Why bury some of your best lyrics (the beautifully simple lines "Why don't you do any dishes / I always clean up the kitchen" from "Granny Diner") four minutes into a track that otherwise sounds like a band tuning their instruments? Why include three covers from different artists when people are buying this work to hear Grizzly Bear?
Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear, never in want of introspection, eschews the latter on their latest EP, Friend, a too-long bundle of leftovers and covers that sounds less like "extended-play" and more like a haphazard collection of individual downloads from iTunes.
If Friend ended after track four, then it would be worthy of the EP moniker. The first four songs are the most cohesive, the most satisfying, and the only reason to invest in this collection instead of cherry-picking the interesting bits from the Internet.
Opener "Alligator (Choir Version)" rapidly evolves from wandering synths to a wall of crashing guitars and percussion. The song finds its footing midway with beautiful, staggered harmonies and it peaks with a blast of symphonic horns.
The cover of the Crystals' "He Hit Me" suits the bands love of reverb and androgynous vocals perfectly. Ed Droste is one of the few male vocalists who can sound believable singing "He hit me and it felt like a kiss."
The epic "Little Brother (Electric)" is a hook-fest that only starts to seem long when the band decides to fizzle out rather than end at the climax they've built up. "Shift (Alternate Version)," with its delightfully elusive lyrics that are either egotistical or masochistic, or both, is one of the best songs here, and manages to build a lot of momentum with layers of echoing piano and vocal decrescendos.
Once "Plans (Terrible vs. Nonhorse)" begins, Friend becomes a meandering mess. Restraint fails, and what would have been a solid four tracks turns into a questionable 10. Why stick a half-assed collage of gurgling white noise and arbitrary samples into the middle of your record if it doesn't segue into something compelling? Why bury some of your best lyrics (the beautifully simple lines "Why don't you do any dishes / I always clean up the kitchen" from "Granny Diner") four minutes into a track that otherwise sounds like a band tuning their instruments? Why include three covers from different artists when people are buying this work to hear Grizzly Bear?
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