Grizzly Bear at Camden Koko

Grizzly Bear and Magic Arm @ Camden Koko, London
18th August 2009

The hype around Grizzly Bear this year has reached fever pitch with the release of their third, brilliant album Veckatimest. So much so that, while they’ll always be a step ahead and away from the mainstream, they’ve easily sold out tonight’s show at Koko in Camden.

For those not in the know, Veckatimest is widely regarded as the band’s best record to date. The way the group’s three outstanding vocalists bring harrowing chills up your spine, the still-evident bubbly folk nature of their songs not masked by but working alongside a stronger electronic, psychedelic hum, the way the instruments and the vocal intonation of each track so carefully and precisely fluctuates to create a mood, a humbling effect. That is Grizzly Bear, and that is what we see tonight, in a much more glorified way that can only be attributed to their live presence.

First though is Magic Arm, a shy, scrawny guy called Marc Rigelsford who hides from his audience behind his instruments (harmonica, keys, guitar, more unidentified and pre-recorded). He reminds me of the Wizard of Oz, so nervous and excited he is to be playing this show that he constantly apologises for it and his music is severely toned down from the recorded stuff we’ve previously heard – there’s a stripped-back feel to his set that even he doesn’t seem that comfortable with. Having said this, he clearly possesses talent for penning decent folky electronic pop songs, but we kind of wish he’d employed a few back-up musicians to complete the all-consuming room-filling sound we know he’s capable of.

 

Magic Arm's magic art at Camden Koko

And then Grizzly Bear. The band the Telegraph say are “New York’s coolest new band” (well done, broadsheet) – but they were right about something, in saying that the three vocalists (Daniel Rossen,  Ed Droste, Chris Taylor) create a “supple and endlessly shifting musical landscape”. Opening with ‘Southern Point’, the first song from the new album, it’s clear the group are well-aware that their talent has evolved through their three records, and keen to show off their finest points as tracks from Veckatimest are littered throughout their hour-long set. Drummer Christopher Bear is delicate; masked by shadow at the back of the stage it’s easy to overlook his presence, but without his subtle rumbling double-rolling, gentle thudding beat, growing and crashing crescendos, this music wouldn’t wash. The three at the front flit between their own and each other’s instruments with ease and expertise, with flutes, keys, guitars, saxophones and clarinets all playing a part.

“We thought London would never like us,” they say, all too bashfully, the crowd drowning their nervousness in cheers. Having supported Radiohead on tour last year, it’s easy to note the connection between the two’s music, and on effectual tracks like ‘Ready, Able’ all too obvious. But Grizzly Bear are one of a kind, there’s no room for anyone else like them. Even when they return to the stage to play an encore of The Crystals’ ‘He Hit Me (and it felt like a kiss)’, they mask the non-original lyrics with their triumphantly distinctive sound. Beautiful and affecting, intelligent and ever-changing; Grizzly Bear leave the stage and our heads and hearts trudge home, content.

By Cathy Reay