Grizzly Bear: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

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• Festival
• Papercuts
• The Rural Alberta Advantage
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• The Beach Boys
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• Nick Drake
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• Le Loup
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Formed:

Jan 1, 2002 in Brooklyn, NY

Genre:

Rock Music

Decades Active:

2000's

Artistic Quality

Low

Cultural Impact

Low

Ratings Guide

Grizzly Bear began as a home recording project for Bostonbred experimentalist Edward Droste, the son of an elementary school teacher, who laid the groundwork for the band's otherworldly debut album on a small handheld tape recorder while holed up for 15 months in his Greenpoint, Brooklyn apartment. His homespun DIY effort took on new life with the help of multiinstrumentalist Christopher Bear, a Chicago native who had worked in a diverse range of musical projects ranging from laptop electronica to free jazz, who added additional instrumentation and vocals to Droste's strippeddown sonic blueprints.

The resulting album, Horn of Plenty a pet project originally meant only for Droste's friends eventually circulated through New York's underground music scene, with its unique blend of acoustic instruments, layered vocals and found sounds earning comparisons to altrock heavyhitters such as Sigur Ros, Sufjan Stevens and Animal Collective. Originally released to little fanfare in 2004, the album gained momentum thanks to copious touring, with Chris Taylor joining the band on reeds and electronics, and Daniel Rossen providing additional guitar and vocals. It was reissued in 2005 as a 2CD set featuring remixes by Dntel (of The Postal Service), Final Fantasy, Solex and Soft Pink Truth (a.k.a. Drew Daniel of Matmos). An album of Droste's early demo recordings, Sorry For the Delay, was released in 2006 as the band finished up recording on Yellow House, their second proper fulllength album.

- Bret Love, All Music Guide