Grizzly Bear — Horn Of Plenty

Grizzly Bear’s Horn of Plenty is a real rough diamond of an album. It seems to be instilled with, wide eyed emotional honest and almost a cave like production quality, that adds to its considerable appeal. This is a reissue of the album, that originaly came out last year on the US lable Kanine Records. Here It’s been reissued ,along with a remix disk on Efterklang new label Rumraket. And it certainly is a promising first release from the label.

Through out Horn of Plenty- you can hear Grizzly Bear's reference points/ influence, but the album has an edge all of its own. Best to way to explain it, is down beat emotional charged folk glinting with murky pop sensibilities.They seem to have the ability to produce songs, that long after they have finished lay stuck in your head. But it’s done in almost haphazard emotional charged way. As I’ve  said you can hear the influence like shadowy ghost moving through the songs like Syd Barret, Joy division, hazy sixties folk music and Shoe gazing indie.

The Album opens up on gloomy struck cord then slides into the humble melancholy, acoustic indie strum of Deep Sea Diver.Towards the end of the track an electric guitar kicks in, in shoe gazing indie style as the singer’s repeats the haunting chorus refrain “I’m a Deep sea driver losing air”. Then there’s the warm child like glow of lxylophone melody of Alligator, the edges of the track cut by softly by lulling static. The hazy guitar strum of La Duchess Anne will have you taping your foot along to it, as vocals hover over the top in a haunting fashion. The whole track has air of barely conscious emotion. Much like most of the album it seems to wrap you up at odd  angles.

The Remix disk is a nice bonus: Deep sea Driver is reborn in Anticon’s The Bomarr Monk capable hands, As 80’s beats ‘n’  synth pop with noisy guitar edge. Safety Scissors take of La Duchesse Anne, comes off like a strange mix They might be Giants and happy go lucky funky beats, with almost a Perrey & Kingsley air to it. All of the tracks are twisted into new and interesting forms.