In his conversion, the apostle Paul notes how he was once a pharisee and a zealot who violently persecuted early Christians. These pharisees were known for their strict adherence to law and failure to welcome new ideas. Paul however, turned his back on his hateful past and his conversion process began after a miraculous encounter with the divine. What does this have to do with independent rock in 2009? Bear (!) with me a moment. What I find interesting in this story is the following overlooked passage. After Paul's encounter with God, he says the following, "neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus." What exactly is in Arabia? Nothing. And that's the point. He sought respite and solace in a place removed from society where he could think, draw inspiration, commune with the divine. Vecaktimest is one of the Elizabeth islands off the coast of Massachusetts. Like Arabia, there is nothing there. Uninhabited, uncontaminated, a small (16 acre) island outside of space and time as it were. This sets the stage for an album that was inspired by such a place, and "in the end" becomes a sonic sanctuary of inspiration in its own right.
This isn't the only sound you'll get from Veckatimest. Grizzly Bear pulled no punches and there are touches of psychedelia, folk, funk, and rock among many others. The sounds are often so interwoven that it's hard to pick them out. Sonically the album brings in the crisp, plugged in sound from the magnificent Friend EP, yet while on Friend the guitars frequently crescendo into raucous cacophonies, here they are subdued - used to complement the vocals as well as to help shape the soundscapes. You'll hear the same prominent drumming sections found in "Knife" and "Central and Remote" from Yellow House in Veckatimest's "All We Ask", "Cheerleader" and elsewhere, but despite a few nods to their previous work, this album is undoubtedly a step in a new direction.
Upon pressing play for the first time, the opener "Southern Point" might make you double check your CD player (or more likely, your iPod) to be sure you didn't fire up the Doors instead of Grizzly Bear - something I definitely didn't expect. After you've reaffirmed your selection and settled back in your chair you'll quickly notice that Grizzly Bear's penchant for structure changes remains intact. On first listen, "Southern Point" almost sounds like it's going in too many different directions, but the acoustic guitar sections pull things together coherently, and you'll find yourself longing to return to hear the chorus erupt. From here the album bursts into the piano pop of "Two Weeks" before moving into a quieter mid section that adds substance and character to the album. More patience is required, but it pays off in droves. Here, the melodies are haunting without bragging about it, and the moments of release after building up tension are very satisfying. Moving into the second half of the album, things pick up a bit more with "Ready Able" (a personal favorite) devolving into a psychedelic synth crescendo matched with (once again) gorgeous vocals. Most of us have already been familiar with "While You Wait for the Others", but the studio has been good to it, and if we are going to call it a pop song, I think we might also have to call it one of the greatest pop songs ever written. It's just... ridiculously brilliant.
On Veckatimest, the music and vocals are very much at the forefront while the lyrics seem to take a back seat. That's not to say the songs aren't very well written however, from what I can tell (can't seem to find too many published lyrics yet), the song writing has also taken a step forward. If there is a theme here, it seems to be about the space between lovers and all the uncertainty and emotion that goes with it. Yet it's more than that. On "Cheerleader," Droste sings, "I'm cheerleading myself... I should have made it matter... chance is on, nothing changing." Such sentiments of regret, isolation and futility are not only a nice contrast to some of the more upbeat sounds/words in the album, but they also suggest that more is beyond the surface. Veckatimest opens with an ending, and ends with a beginning. The chorus on "Southern Point" declares, "in the end... you'll never find," and the closer explains, "this is... a foreground." This suggests that as we reach the end, we realize it is only the start of what is to come. It must be noted how delicate and beautiful this closer is, and just as importantly, what it means to the album. While Yellow House closed with the open ended question, "what now?" Veckatimest ends with the declaration that this is only the beginning. To me this describes the album as a whole. Much of it is a breathtaking, attention grabbing foreground, yet you realize in the fuzzy distance, there exists a place outside of space and time. As the first words of the album articulate, "Our haven on, the southern point, is calling us." The album itself calls to us much like Paul's Arabia and Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest. If we will look beyond, we'll find something astonishing. This is what Paul must have experienced in Arabia. Take the trip to Veckatimest and you might find some truly transcendent moments.
UPDATE: In my zeal to review this album, I realized a few things. First of all, I could have written 10 more reviews and none of them would have been similar. There is a lot to discuss here. Particularly human frailty ("we all fall through" -While You Wait for the Others, "if we're all faltering" -Fine For Now). All that aside however, the reason for this update is that the official lyrics are obviously available and as it turns out, I (and the rest of the internet) had the lyrics for Cheerleader dramatically wrong. The proper chorus is, "I'm shooting them myself, I should've made it matter... God let it go, it doesn't mean a thing... Chance and sow, nothing changing." These words are immediately much darker, more compelling, and infinitely more interesting artistically than we previous realized. Chew on that one for a bit.
