Live Review: Grizzly Bear, Kirin J Callinan

Reinventing himself at every turn, tonight we see Kirin J Callinan cast as ringleader. Opening on his own as he strangles a tone from his guitar, Callinan is here tonight not only by virtue of his presence on Grizzly Bear bassist Chris Taylor's record label, but also due to a growing appreciation for his visceral art-rock of late. Midway through he rolls out his band and things get a bit The Virgin Suicides as four instrumentally adept ladies play along while Callinan stalks about the stage, shouting at them inaudibly. Things threaten to fall apart completely on several occasions but, as it's all in the name of spontaneity and experimentalism, it gets a pass.

Grizzly Bear hit the stage bang on time tonight. The venue is rammed with super fans, a fact not lost on co-vocalist Ed Droste as he takes the time to thank everyone profusely before playing a note. When those notes do come, they're in the form of Speak In Rounds taken from the universally acknowledged Shields. It's a fitting opener as, like many songs in their set tonight, the track moves from lowing melancholy to all-out tempestuousness so quickly you often wonder if you've gotten lost and found yourself in the middle of another tune. The sound at Billboard is pristine, and as the band launch into the Daniel Rossen-led Sleeping Ute, cylinders really start firing. Rossen himself is a revelation, his guitar work breathtaking.

Grizzly Bear really do exist as more than the sum of their parts, especially tonight. Every member contributes something unique – whether it's Chris Taylor's choirboy falsetto and woodwind work (although the way he stoops to play really does look like he's about to charm a snake from a wicker basket), Droste's distinctive baroque vocals or Chris Bear's hurricanery on the drums. They seem like nice guys too and there's zero pretension about the way they casually chat to the crowd, constantly mentioning the fact that Billboard is a former strip club and joining in with some well-oiled audience members in calling for Bear (the drummer, not the band) to play a solo. He ends up explaining paradiddles. While You Wait For The Others sees things loosen up to a point where the band's travelling instrumentalist stage dives (seriously), but as they finish the encore with an almost a cappella version of Veckatimest's All We Ask, there's no doubt in the room that we're witnessing something very serious and equally mercurial.