Biography
Grizzly Bear was originally just singer and multi-instrumentalist Edward Droste recording moody, atmospheric songs at his Brooklyn home. Drummer Christopher Bear helped on the first recordings; bassist Chris Taylor and guitarist Daniel Rossen came aboard after the release of 2002's Horn of Plenty; this quartet became the permanent lineup. (Bear however was not the source of the band name, which referred to a former boyfriend of Droste's). The first full-band album, Yellow House was also homemade (the yellow house, In Watertown, Massachusetts, belonged to Droste's mom) and also full of downcast, dreamlike soundscapes. Fast becoming critics' darlings, the band released the album-length EP Friend-- a mix of new songs, covers including the notorious Phil Spector/Crystals song "He Hit Me (And it Felt Like a Kiss"), and covers of Grizzly Bear songs by Atlas Sound, CSS and Band of Horses. In 2006 Bear briefly became a touring member of Dirty Projectors. Sometimes compared to Radiohead, Grizzly Bear got to open that band's 2008 North American tour, and were praised onstage by guitarist Jonny Greenwood. The third album Veckatimest was recorded in the woods of upstate New York (though this time in an actual studio). It was Grizzly Bear's most elaborate production yet, the songs richly detailed with strings and choir. It debuted at #8 in the Billboard Top 200 and raised the band's profile a few more notches; they made the rounds of TV and festival appearances (doing both the Pitchfork and South by Southwest fests) and played an orchestrated show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. During this period, the band scored the indie film "Blue Valentine" (2010), reimagining many of its earlier songs as instrumentals. The band took a brief hiatus before the fourth album, Shields, for which they returned to the "yellow house" of the second album. More collaborative than before, the album credited all songwriting to the full band and likewise hit the top ten, though some critics found it less ambitious than Veckatimest. After completing its 2014 tour with an internationally-streamed show at the Sydney Opera House, Grizzly Bear was largely inactive for the next two years, during which Droste moved to Los Angeles. Reports of a new album finally emerged in late 2016, when the band announced on its website that it was "90% done." They built the anticipation during spring of 2017, posting mostly-instrumental teaser clips of songs in progress. The completed album, Painted Ruins, was released on RCA Records in August 2017, giving Grizzly Bear their first major-label release.
