Grizzly Bear - Yellow House - Rock - CD

Grizzly Bear's Warp Records debut, YELLOW HOUSE is seductive and melancholy, deep with hazy eyed choruses, whistles, pianos, and flush with heart and melancholy.

On their second album (and Warp debut), Yellow House, Grizzly Bear takes a dramatic leap forward, delivering a collection of songs that sound awe-inspiringly huge and intimate at the same time. While the album is overall more polished and focused than their debut, nowhere is this (literally) clearer than in Yellow House's production. Though the artful lo-fi approach Grizzly Bear used on Horn of Plenty -- which sounded like it was recorded on tapes that had been moldering away in musty cupboards, or gradually dissolving underwater -- was extremely evocative in its own way, Yellow House's warmth, clarity, and symphonic depth gives Grizzly Bear's widescreen psychedelic folk-rock a timelessness that makes it seem even more dreamlike and unique. The album's structure and songwriting are much more focused, too, even though many of the tracks hover around five to six minutes long. Instead of presenting their experiments as fragments and snippets, as they did on Horn of Plenty, on Yellow House Grizzly Bear incorporates their ideas into pieces with natural, suite-like movements. "Central and Remote" moves seamlessly from fragile marimba melodies to acoustic guitar-driven verses and towering choruses. The best moments not only have a natural sound, but conjure up nature imagery as well: "Easier" opens the album with a gently exciting buildup of woodwinds, banjo, and acoustic guitar that could soundtrack the dawn of a late summer morning, while "Colorado" closes Yellow House with wide expanses of vocal harmonies and mountainous tympani. In between, there's more majestic beauty to be found, particularly on the gorgeously hazy love song "Knife," which combines lush Beach Boys harmonies with a little bit of the Velvet Underground's chugging cool. Elsewhere, "Plans" feels like a more brooding take on the High Llamas' intricate, symphonic/electronic pop, while "On a Neck, on a Spit" recalls Jim O'Rourke's freewheeling deconstruction of folk-rock and soft rock. However, these similarities feel more like allegiances than tracing over the work of these artists -- Yellow House is a beautiful album in its own right, and required listening not just for fans of Horn of Plenty, but for anyone who enjoys ambitious, creative music with an emotional undercurrent. ~ by Heather Phares, All Music Guide

Performer	Grizzly Bear
Music genre	Rock, Alternative
Music subgenre	Indie/Alternative
Music release type	Release
Media format	CD
Original release date	2006
Edition	Standard
Language	English
Number of tracks	10
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Series title	Grizzly Bear - Yellow House [CD]
Track listing	Easier, Lullabye, Knife, Central and Remonte, Little Brother, Plans, Marla, On a Neck, on a Spit, Reprise, Colorado
Record label	Warp Records
Track name	Easier, Lullabye, Knife, Central and Remote, Little Brother, Plans, Marla, On a Neck, On a Spit, Reprise, Colorado
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N