Magnificent vocal harmonies, indebted to The Beach Boys.
After ‘only’ three albums, the popularity of Brooklyn's indie-rock union Grizzly Bear can't be hindered. Their debut ‘Horn Of Plenty’ (’04) received the label anti-folk at the time but their love for electronica was soon clear when they had the album remixed by the likes of Dntel and The Soft Pink Truth. Successor ‘Yellow House’ was an instant hit. The influential Warp Records took them on board in ’06 and the album landed in the Top 10 of 2006 at Pitchfork and the New York Times.
‘Veckatimest’ , from ’09, also brought the big breakthrough and again provided quite some nominations in the ‘albums of the year’ charts of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal (!), Time and Pitchfork and others. Aside from many headline shows, they've also performed as opener at the special request of the likes of Radiohead and Paul Simon, who openly announced themselves to be huge fans. Even Jay-Z praised the band after having seen a show of theirs and proclaimed: “Incredible!”. Though we're willing to bet that it sounded more like “Yo! Incredible!”
Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen's superb vocal harmonies – that near perfection live too – leave none unmoved. Their new album will be released in September. For the moment you can sate yourself musically on their first three albums but also on the just recently released EP/pure pop gem ‘Silent Hour/Golden Mile’ by Daniel Rossen (see too: Department Of Eagles).
Support-act will be Irish band Villagers,with impressive vocalist Conor J. O'Brien as frontman. Humo:“just like, say, Conor 'Bright Eyes' Oberst or the late Elliot Smith , O’Brien has mastered the art of putting inconsolable, sometimes even morbid, lyrics to merry music”. Their debut ‘Becoming A Jackal’ even got itself onto the shortlist for the Mercury Prize.