GRIZZLY BEAR with HERE WE GO MAGIC at the Phoenix (410 Sherbourne), Friday (June 5), 8 pm. $18. 416-870-8000.
Brooklyn-based Grizzly Bear achieved indie rock success with their previous record, Yellow House. But buzz about the vocal-harmony-driven quartet’s recent third release, Veckatimest (Warp), is reaching crazy new levels.
[rssbreak]
Shows on their current tour, including their Toronto stop, are selling out, and according to hipster blog aggregator Hype Machine, they’re currently the number-one most downloaded act.
Guitarist/vocalist and co-songwriter Daniel Rossen is content, however, to bask in the more material evidence of the band’s success.
“We’ve got a tour bus now,” he proudly notes over the phone from New York. “No more staring for hours out the side of a van!”
Another upgrade is a massive lighting rig that Rossen excitedly describes as “three giant crystal curtains” designed by his girlfriend. Stage lights shine through the hanging crystals and cast trippy visual patterns onto the stage, a surefire complement to the band’s sonic psych-folk moments.
Rossen joined Grizzly Bear – originally the solo project of singer/guitarist Ed Droste – in 2005, just before Yellow House. He says the band felt more cohesive and at home with each other during the recording of Veckatimest.
“On Yellow House, I was eager and excited but more guarded. This time we approached recording with a clean slate, not knowing where it would go. We just tried to have fun and tried every idea we could think of.
“I don’t think about the fact that our audience is expanding rapidly right now. It definitely feels like reception of the record is very warm, which is great, but we also feel a lot of pressure to put on a really great show.”
So will the band’s runway success turn them into reckless rock stars?
“We can’t go too crazy on tour,” Rossen says almost sheepishly. “We have to watch our voices. For some bands, that doesn’t matter, but because our songs are harmony-based, if even one of us can’t sing, the show sucks.”
music@nowtoronto.com
