Album Review: Grizzly Bear - Shields

You've got to give credit where it's due. Grizzly Bear could easily have sat on their laurels and stuck with a winning formula after 2009's critically acclaimed Veckatimest. But conscious that one of the criticisms levelled at that album was a sense of emotional detachment between the songs and Edward Droste's vocals, the New York four-piece returned to the studio after a break determined to address this. The result is the engrossing Shields, one serious grower of an album, where the vocals are rawer and seem better integrated into a more ambitious sound, as opposed to just floating over the top of songs as they seemed to in the past.

The extra oomph from the vocals is complemented by Daniel Rossen's superb guitar work and a killer rhythm section that allows many of these tracks to start in one direction before effortlessly taking a big U-turn. Opener, Sleeping Ute, is a good example as it begins with a series of psychedelic grooves over an odd time signature before slowing to a gentle acoustic end where Droste's voice seems genuinely fragile. Speak In Rounds and A Simple Answer fly along on the back of big choruses but also have slower, more thoughtful finishes while a dark build-up in What's Wrong gives way to a nice little jazzy ending. The highlight, though, is the more straightforward Yet Again, the closest thing to a power ballad on the album, where the shimmering chords set up a big conclusion. Half Gate is another gorgeous epic packed full of pounding drums towards the end of an intricate album where the songs somehow flow beautifully into one another, despite all the twists and turns along the way.