CD Reviews

Department of Eagles | In Ear Park

4AD (2008)

By RYAN STEWART | October 21, 2008

3.5 Stars

Rare is the side project that outstrips the better-known band, but Dan Rossen, one of the main men of Grizzly Bear, does just that with his “other band,” Department of Eagles. In Ear Park improves on Grizzly Bear’s psychedelic folk æsthetic by both fleshing it out and making it more accessible. The orchestrated arrangements are impeccable, and the Beatles/Beach Boys–ian pop melodies are great. Rossen’s aching tenor conveys genuine sadness and yearning in “Phantom Other” and “Herring Bone”; the piano, harp, and cello on “Teenagers” create a pleasantly airy vibe. The clear standout, though, is the lead single, “No One Does It like You,” which trundles along with rattling percussion, hollow vocal harmonies, and staccato, overly reverbed guitars. Rossen sounds especially haunting and beautiful here, singing “I try so hard.” Nothing against Grizzly Bear, but I wouldn’t complain if this were all he did from now on.

Related: Review: Department of Eagles, Reunited and it feels so . . . heavy, Local color, More

Review: Department of Eagles
At the Brattle Theatre Sunday, Fred Nicolaus, guitarist from the Brooklyn-based duo Department of Eagles, announced that they'd play a song from their little-known 2003 debut album, The Whitey on the Moon UK LP . "It's not very good," he warned.
Reunited and it feels so . . . heavy
Lead Throwing Muse Kristin Hersh has often said that she doesn't write her songs so much as channel them, so it wasn't surprising that at times it felt like tonight's sold-out crowd was witnessing an onstage exorcism.
Local color
It's become a commonplace to say that "indie" is too vague to mean anything useful, but that's not actually true.
Photos: Grizzly Bear at Berklee
Grizzly Bear, live at Berklee Performance Center, June 3, 2009
Real Estate | Real Estate
Real Estate’s buzzed-about debut speaks the language of the season, its slow sunset of sound flush with twinkling Stratocasters, drum kits that trot off into the distance, and anemic vocals that, as with Grizzly Bear or Beach House, magnify the fragility of it all.
Past perfection
Everybody please stop calling Alan Palomo "nostalgic." When I check in with him last Friday, the dude seems far more interested in whatever is on the horizon than whatever's in the past.
Review: Middle East and Laura Marling at SPACE
At SPACE Gallery, May 11
James Lidell | Compass
Hey, I love Veckatimest as much as the next wimp, but the prospect of Grizzly Bear multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor’s offering production to the latest album from Jamie Lidell didn’t seem promising when it was announced earlier this year. After all, Lidell has spent the past half-decade effecting an unlikely transition from introspective IDM nerd to extroverted R&B dude.
Light Pollution | Apparitions
Light Pollution unabashedly endorse marijuana use: “How many glass pipes can you find in this picture?” the band ask under a press photo posted on their MySpace.
Deerhunter | Halcyon Digest
The only reason Halcyon Digest doesn't get a perfect four stars is that absolute classic isn't Deerhunter's style.
tUnE-yArDs | w h o k i l l
Armed with a few delay pedals, a smattering of percussive devices, and a fucking ukelele , she creates a vocal army of one.
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