Grizzly Bear (The band)

Sup everyone! I’m so hyped to be writing my first online article for Rise. I must have spent 2 and a half hours trying to figure out what to write and how I was going to format this. All I knew was that I wanted this to be cool and informative, something about music or MSA, but I also wanted this to be interesting and relevant. So, I started thinking, what’s interesting, relevant AND brings people together? You guessed it: Music! Not only is music a great way to connect with people, but it’s also interesting to talk about bands and different music genres. Now, I’m not a music journalist or critic. I can’t tell you if a song uses the C chord at the right time, but I can recognize a good band when I hear it. So, today I’m going to be talking about the indie rock/chamber pop/psychedelic folk band Grizzly Bear.

 (Picture of the Band Members)

If you’ve never heard of the band grizzly bear, you need to get away from the rock you’re living under. Grizzly bear is an American rock band from Brooklyn New York and just like many other musicians, they came from a humble beginning. They talk about the stars of their beginning album, Daniel Rossen’s (lead singer and guitarist) old ATV Honda TRX250 and his dog Joey, in an interview with GQ. Which makes perfect sense if you listen to the very beginning of their newest album, Painted Ruins, released in 2017. However, I doubt you’ll think it’s a Honda engine because of how well they blend their vocals with the sound. Lead vocalists, Edward Droste and Daniel Rossen, and backing vocalists, Chris Taylor, and Chrisopher Bear, combine more than 8 instruments to form their pop-folk-rock genre. This includes the keyboard, the guitar, the banjo, the percussion, the woodwind, the autoharp, the xylophone, the glockenspiel and more.  The vocalists in Grizzly Bear are well known for their vocal harmony. Rolling Stone magazine wrote of their first album, “the pure atmospheric power of the songs is more than enough to hypnotize.” Grizzly bear is more than just amazing vocals and intelligent sound pairings. Their musical instinct is rare; it’s impossible for any other band to replicate them.

 Now that we’ve established just how amazing this band is, let’s get to the actual song recommendations. Firstly, I should say these recommendations come from me, who has been a Grizzly bear fan since the summer of 2024. So, I don’t have a broad knowledge of their music, but I believe music is instinctual, and whatever song resonates with you is the one you’re meant to listen to and share with others. To me, these songs are the cream of the Grizzly bear crop. First, we have the song Colorado. Colorado starts off as any other grizzly bear song, slow, steady, and with an instrument you’ve never heard before. The banjo, piano and woodwind linger around that bass drum sound, and they work their way up until they’re the only thing you can hear. I can try my best to describe it, but it would do no justice to this musical epiphany. The vocals are amazing, the timing is savory, and the lyrics leave you feeling a sense of passionate desperation. I could not talk about Grizzly bear without recommending this song.

The second Grizzly Bear song I would recommend is Foreground. Foreground is a part of Grizzly Bears 2009 album, Veckatimest. There are so many significant songs on the Veckatimist album, for example, All We Ask, Cheerleader, I Live With You, and While You Wait For The Others; However, Foreground is the best song on the entire album. It’s calm, classy and the piano is used completely throughout this song. It’s so powerful that it could pull at your heartstrings. The vocals are higher, and the piano plays such an important role here. I would recommend it to people who prefer classical musical or who enjoy piano-oriented songs. But if you prefer heavier songs with more guitar and rock elements, you should listen to About Face, which is also on the Veckatimist album.

The third and final song I would recommend is Yet Again. Yet Again belongs to Grizzly Bear’s fourth album, Sheilds. It includes some amazing drum sounds as well as vocals. It’s one of the more upbeat Grizzley Bear songs and it has an amazing guitar and drum solo at the end. I love to recommend this song to people because it’s just good, and everyone can agree. It takes after that one famous Grizzly Bear song, Two Weeks. Everyone went crazy over it because it combined the core principles of music: A good guitar and a catchy beat. If you enjoy Two Weeks, then you’ll love its predecessor, Yet Again.

            Thanks for reading this music article about the band Grizzly Bear. I hope you check these songs out and many other amazing songs I haven’t mentioned!