By Pete Donahue

Grizzly Bear are another one of those bands I didn’t get into until later than most. But I wanted to share a video I found on YouTube displaying all the (wonderful) qualities that made me perk up and pay attention to the Brooklyn quartet.

I love when artists record a song one way in the studio, yet create a new version of the song for the live setting while channeling the same feeling as the studio cut. “Colorado,” the final track of Yellow House is a perfect example. I actually watched the same video here before I heard the studio version. Like some of you, I, too was taken aback. I stopped what I was doing and put all of my attention on the performance. The vocals, the ambient guitar, the jazzy rhythm – it had me.

While I recognize no guitars in the studio version (though there may be some hiding in all those layers), what Daniel Rossen does with his guitar on the live version here is great. I imagine it took more than a just a few minutes to create the alternate soundscapes channeled through a guitar for the song for live settings and I applaud Rossen’s work.

Last but certainly not least, we have Ed Droste’s vocals. His haunting plea, asking “what now?” sounds bigger live than on record, without the benefit of a mixing board and studio trickery. As if those words don’t sound personal enough, he calls out like he’s the only person on Earth. “So what? People are going to hear? You left for Colorado and you left me.” What a top way to end an album.

Grizzly Bear play Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater on Monday, June 8th.

Buy: Grizzly Bear
++
Myspace: Grizzly Bear
MP3: Grizzly Bear – “Colorado”