Friend EP

Grizzly BearFriend EPSomehow, when no one was looking, Grizzly Bear became the great wide hope. Maybe it was on their recent tour stint, or possibly in the final sessions for last year’s excellent Yellow House; all I know is that somewhere, somehow, Grizzly Bear moved past most of their peers, the proof of such comes in the form of their new EP, Friend. Sure, Yellow House was a grand album that built exponentially on the forward-thinking bedroom pop of their 2004 debut, Horn of Plenty, but no one could expect this. No one could expect Friend. Looking at the EP’s tracklist, Friend should come off as a loose collection of songs aimed to hold fans over until a new studio album is ready. Quite the contrary. Friend plays through like a short album – a short album that by far surpasses the sonic highs heard on any of their previous recordings.

A new recording of Horn of Plenty’s “Alligator,” here titled “Alligator (Choir Version),” kicks things off. The song’s saturated arrangement is not only 100 percent different than the original, but the general direction, mood and effect of the song is different. Featuring Beirut’s wunderkind, Zach Condon, “Alligator” is a huge production of a song that instantly begs for the band’s placement alongside the Arcade Fire or Radiohead or whatever your current epic band of choice is. It’s huge, and, more than anything else, it’s the work of a confident band; a band that sounded beautiful finding their way (as heard on the sometimes uneven Yellow House), and has finally arrived.

The following track, “He Hit Me,” a song written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin in 1962 is equally grand, beginning with a slow, subtle arrangement held together by singer Ed Droste’s fragile vocals before exploding into an arrangement of countless layers of vocals, guitars and ambiance before falling back into a subtle, spooky song. The song’s arrangement, naturally, is much different than the original, and – lyrics aside – Grizzly Bear treat the song with the kind of care that

Completing the stunning opening trifecta is an electric version of “Little Brother,” one of the more memorable tracks from Yellow House. Playing both versions of the song, more than anything else on Friend, displays the progression the band has made. While the original version of the song is a very good listen, it’s also awkward and nearly-amature in arrangement; that said, it also has all the seeds of a proper forward-thinking band. Here, on the Friend version of the song, the seeds sprout, and the flowers (if we’re being cheesy), are much brighter … and louder … and thicker. It’s a beauty of a song, the kind that makes it onto year-end mixtapes.

A new version of “Shift,” which originally appeared on Horn of Plenty, takes on the hard task of following Friend’s powerhouse openers with grace. Featuring expert harmony arrangements and a subtle-but-full accompaniment of pianos and guitars, the song fades perfect into the EP’s segue track, “Plans.” Originally a fairly normal song from Yellow House, “Plans” is presented here in a noisy, remixed form. It’s the EP’s low point, but, in general, fits the EPs’smixed-bag framework.

Rounding out Friend’s primary cycle of songs is “Granny Diner,” a new, largely instrumental song that burns slow. With it’s lush production, distant electronic tamperings and celebrate key and guitar accents, it would’ve been a nice ending to an amazing set of songs, but, instead, Grizzly Bear do something weird. Rather than offering a chaser EP of songs that scream “We found ourselves!” a la Radiohead’s post Pablo Honey EP, My Iron Lung, Grizzly Bear treat Friend as a true catch-all release, spending the next three tracks on covers of their material by CSS, Band of Horses and Atlas Sound. Listen to the covers all you want, they’re not that bad, but anyone playing this kind of eerie progressive music right now doesn’t stand a chance next to Grizzly Bear. Band of Horses’ offering is just as inoffensive (read: enjoyable but nothing new) as any of their own material, but otherwise … well … get ready to skip to track 10.

Friend’s final two songs also stand out as different as the opening six recordings. First is “Deep Blue Sea,” a traditional song presented here in solo (but nicely accented) form by Droste. If you like Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s Master and Everyone or Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, you’ll probably find much to like here. The EP’s closer, a loud-n-fast untitled song that also features Condon rips through it’s 90-second playtime like a celebration. Almost as if Grizzly Bear know that they’re on their way to being the best band in the world. Fingers crossed, their next release will not just come in a more listener-friendly format, but continue to see the band build to unpredictable heights.   8/10

Written by G. William Locke