Department of Eagles/ Archive 2003 - 2006

Department of Eagles
Archive 2003 - 2006
(Bella Union)

Grizzly Bear vocalist Daniel Rossen has been leading a secret life with his old college room-mate Fred Nicholaus. Over the last decade, the two have been working in their basements, establishing a kind of musical devolution which has seen them go from sample-based electronica artists to a spookily organic acoustic duo.
This collection makes for an effective snapshot of the journey: 'While We're Young' combines lo-fi acoustic recording with an ambient magnificence, surfacing in the backdrops. 'Practice Room Sketch 1' and 2 show the twosome's experiments with a grand piano, and are good examples of basic, four track creativity, with handclaps and improvised noises dive in and out of the piano's natural gracefulness.
Some of the fruits from these experiments would end up on Grizzly Bear albums, while other arrows would point towards their 2008 album 'In Ear Park'. It's worth considering them on their own merits through, not least for the forbidding string climax of piano meditation 'Golden Apple'.