JOYAS MUSICALES: GRIZZLY BEAR

*Yet again.

Grizzly Bear is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band, composed of Edward Droste (vocals, guitar, omnichord, keyboard), Daniel Rossen (vocals, guitar, banjo, keyboards), Chris Taylor (bass, backing vocals, various instruments, producer) and Christopher Bear (drums, backing vocals, glockenspiel). The band employs traditional and electronic instruments. Their sound has been categorized as psychedelic pop, folk rock, and experimental, and is dominated by the use of vocal harmonies. The band is one of the few non-electronic artists signed to Warp Records. Daniel Rossen is also a member of the duo Department of Eagles.

Grizzly Bear began as a moniker for singer-songwriter Ed Droste's music in the early 2000s. Regarding the band's origins as a solo project, Droste notes: "It was just like doing a little home project, and I thought "oh, this is fun, I'm just going to call this stuff Grizzly Bear. [...] Our name was actually just a nickname for an old boyfriend of mine."

Grizzly Bear's 2004 debut album, Horn of Plenty, features myriad sounds and layering of voices. It was largely the solo effort of Droste (who wrote all the songs in his bedroom) and predates the formation of the band, which has been dubbed anti-folk, freak folk, lo-fi. Rolling Stone magazine wrote of the first album that "The pure atmospheric power of the songs is more than enough to hypnotize." In 2005, the band re-released the album with an additional disc of remixes by Solex, Dr. Cuerpo of The Double, Castanets, Final Fantasy, The Soft Pink Truth, Dntel and others.

The band performed four shows as a three-piece (Droste, Horn of Plenty collaborator Christopher Bear, and Chris Taylor) before adding Daniel Rossen (a friend of Bear's from jazz-camp)[3] to the line-up.

Their first record as a quartet and to feature material written by Rossen, Yellow House, was released on Warp Records in September 2006. It was named for Droste's mother's house where it was recorded and ranked as one of the top albums of 2006 by the New York Times and Pitchfork Media. In 2007, Rossen recorded a cover of JoJo's single "Too Little Too Late" for Droste's twenty-ninth birthday.[6] In 2006 the band did a Take-Away Show session with Vincent Moon. Also in 2007, the band released Friend, an EP which features outtakes, alternate versions of songs, and covers of Grizzly Bear material done by Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS), Band of Horses, and Atlas Sound. In addition, members of the Dirty Projectors and Beirut collaborated with the band on "Alligator" and the EP's hidden track.

On March 1, 2008, Grizzly Bear performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

In summer of 2008, Grizzly Bear opened for Radiohead on the second leg of their North American tour. In Toronto, on their last date of the tour together, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood spoke of his love for Grizzly Bear, on stage, calling them his favorite band. Of the experience, Taylor has commented: “It was shocking, and kind of unbelievable. It still is unbelievable. Opening for Radiohead was a huge honor for us, as a band and as individuals. We’ve all had long-term relationships with Radiohead’s music, so we didn’t want to take that opportunity for granted, and do anything less than the best we could." Christopher has also commented that it "was like a dream."

The group then convened at a house on Cape Cod to solidify their third full-length album, Veckatimest, which released in May 2009 and was named "after a tiny, uninhabited island on Cape Cod that the band visited and was inspired by, particularly liking its Native American name." Upon release the album reached No. 8 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and met with widespread critical acclaim. Chris Bear has noted that compared to Yellow House, the band's 2009 release Veckatimest is more of an accessible pop record. He said: "I think that it’s kinda clearer, clearer equals more accessible I feel like clearer equals more accessible in general as a rule." Veckatimest made many Top Album lists for 2009 (#1 Wall Street Journal, No. 6 Pitchfork, No. 6 New York Times, No. 8 Time).

In 2009, Grizzly Bear also contributed "Service Bell" (with Feist) and "Deep Blue Sea" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization.

In March 2012, Daniel Rossen released a solo EP, Silent Hour/Golden Mile, consisting of tracks he had written for the band's forthcoming album, but were not used.

Recently, the band announced through Facebook that they are currently in the process of mixing their upcoming album.

On June 5, 2012, the song "Sleeping Ute" from their then-untitled upcoming studio album was posted on the band's website, along with the album's track listing and tour dates. On July 9, 2012, the band revealed the album's title to be Shields.