GRIZZLY BEAR:
PAINTED RUINS:
LP/CD/DD:
RCA:
OUT NOW:
Album number five sees the Brooklyn band jump ship from Warp and land themselves a major-label deal with RCA, a move which occasionally results in a watering down and blanding out of an artist's overall sound. With Painted Ruins however, Grizzly Bear have at least crafted something borne of consistency and formula, even if the majority of this album is somewhat forgettable even after three or four run-throughs.
The first half of this set hinges on artful-rock structures and progressive riffs inter-twined with sweet if ineffectual vocals that are easy on the ear. The single Mourning Sound, the following Four Cypresses and the closing Sky Took Hold are the album's highlights, all ably displaying the band's integrity as a musical force with rumbling drums, atmospheric passages and meaningful lyrics. Fans of Animal Collective, Dutch Uncles and the like will warm to much of Painted Ruins but there's little to recommend in the actual 'song' department - it's all a rather mediocre affair towards the middle and latter stages, something that earlier Grizzly albums don't suffer from.
6/10
PAINTED RUINS:
LP/CD/DD:
RCA:
OUT NOW:
The first half of this set hinges on artful-rock structures and progressive riffs inter-twined with sweet if ineffectual vocals that are easy on the ear. The single Mourning Sound, the following Four Cypresses and the closing Sky Took Hold are the album's highlights, all ably displaying the band's integrity as a musical force with rumbling drums, atmospheric passages and meaningful lyrics. Fans of Animal Collective, Dutch Uncles and the like will warm to much of Painted Ruins but there's little to recommend in the actual 'song' department - it's all a rather mediocre affair towards the middle and latter stages, something that earlier Grizzly albums don't suffer from.
6/10