Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest

Label: Warp

It’s hardly a revelation at this stage that Grizzly Bear had a good year in 2009. When a Brooklyn psych-folk act makes the Billboard Top 10 (we’re not kidding), that’s news. But it’s also no surprise. Grizzly Bear had grown considerably with 2006’s Yellow House, and the band really hit its stride with this Veckatimest. On it, Ed Droste sounds more assured of his place in the world, more confident in singing about the transient and ephemeral nature of love and relationships, while his bandmates show a learned restraint, saying a lot with space (and reverb!) and the songs’ stately pacing. Like 12 slow-burning matchsticks on a cool, dark night, these tunes will sear into your memory. We dig the classic popcraft of “While You Wait for the Others,” hiding out toward the end of the record, but you go ahead and find your own favorites. (M.L. Thrope)