It's hard to imagine a venue with less character than the MFA's Remis Auditorium. Its shoebox shape and bland decor seem more appropriate for an elementary school's Christmas Pageant than an indie rock band. Fortunately, the acoustics are good, and the room's lack of atmosphere did not deter Grizzly Bear from putting on an amazing show. The band expertly painted the pasty white-ish walls with an array of colors and textures and brought into their world the quiet and attentive audience.
I spent the days leading up to the show revisiting Grizzly Bear's two full-length albums, Horn Of Plenty, and 2006's masterpiece Yellow House. Many of the songs from the latter left me wondering how the foursome would be able to reproduce them in a live setting. Their songs are filled with subtleties and ambiance, and in some ways are more about the aura they create rather than the notes and words they produce.
Much of that aura was produced by Chris Taylor, who, put simply, is the Jonny Greenwood of Grizzly Bear. For a good portion of the evening, he was found on one knee, conjuring up wonderful sounds from his array of gadgetry and instruments. Some of the highlights included sampling of layer upon layer of flute and recorder in realtime, processing his clarinet down two octaves using a pitch shifter, and his amazing vocal work on the Yellow House standout, "Knife."
Dan Rossen's guitar work was razor sharp all night, particularly on crowd pleasers "Colorado" and "On A Neck, On A Spit." He's one of the most emotive guitar players I've seen live in awhile, despite his rather dry demeanor. He sang lead on quite a few songs as well, with his most notable vocals guiding the delicate and powerful "Lullabye."
Even drummer Christopher Bear had a microphone in front of him, contributing to possibly the best group vocal performance I've heard live from an indie rock band.
Clearly, principal singer/songwriter Ed Droste has found himself some fantastic musicians who complement his talents and share his artistic vision. Their rousing rendition of Horn Of Plenty's "Shift" caused me to wonder what Grizzly Bear's debut album could have been, had Droste been collaborating with them at the time of its inception.
If you liked Yellow House, I highly recommend getting out there and experiencing the music live in concert if you can. Grizzly Bear delivers.
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