“Losing All Sense” blooms to unveil a glissando of strings and Droste’s belting: “Like a rogue wave you / Washed right over me / Losing all sense of what my body could feel.” Finally, a moment of warmth and tenderness. Grizzly Bear were gone for a few years after Veckatimest, but the amount of extracurricular projects they tackled during that time - Chris Taylor's work with CANT, Daniel Rossen's solo EP Silent Hour/Golden Mile, and the band's reconfiguring of their own songs into the Blue Valentine soundtrack - means they never really went away. The album reaches a high point at the middle with tracks “Losing All Sense” and “Aquarian.” The twin tracks feature keyboards extensively, with the former’s keyboard and guitar hooks sounding similar to Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” and the latter’s ghastly and cold. The refrain “Don’t you be so easy / Don’t you know that I can make it better” is plain in comparison to the lush soundscape. “Three Rings” follows, exhibiting the most intricate instrumental arrangement at this point on the album, but a fairly common lyric structure. Instrumental melody is sparing, allowing space for the story of the trees being ripped from the Earth to be heard. The chords ride a steady wave up to Rossen’s final verse, both petering out before the outro.Īfter “Wasted Acres” and “Mourning Sound,” two of the suavest-sounding tracks, the album turns to “Four Cypresses.” The song begins with a clear, dull metronome and sharp snare, a little more alien and stiff in comparison to the slinking easiness that came before. On “Four Cypresses,” the guitar bubbles under the lyrics before taking the baton at the middle of the track. The clearest example of this interaction is between the blossoms of shrill, warped guitars that cry out against Rossen and Droste’s harmonies. The aforementioned measured movements characterize “Painted Ruins.” Each track has separate components, acting as disparate but necessary pieces of the puzzle. The subtle change in depth and warmth of the track is a testament to the skill of the four musicians, who have released a steady stream of critically-acclaimed works of indie rock over the past few years. The first track, “Wasted Acres,” declares this as it warms up with synth, strings and woodwinds into a crescendo before Rossen’s vocals cue in a slinking bass-line. The group makes more use of beats and glitching synth, rather than the steady melodies they frequent on other albums, to create a sense of deep space, a chamber awash in reverb. If “Painted Ruins” were on a canvas, the composition would be vast, empty and cold.
Grizzly Bear’s music has always been atmospheric.