Review

Following the praise heaped upon 2006’s Yellow House, expectations are high for Veckatimest. If that unwieldy title doesn’t bode well, fear not: the New York quartet’s third album is quite splendid, an intoxicating melange of otherworldly melodies, slow-burning tunes and stupendous vocal harmonies. ‘Southern Point’ is a strident opener, but proceedings really burst into life with the plink-plonk piano riff of ‘Two Weeks’, a rare burst of exuberance on an album that is, like its predecessor, by turns disquieting and quietly soothing.

Highlights are many, including the dissonant folk of ‘Dory’, the fantastic ‘Fine For Now’, which builds to a tremendous crescendo, and the insistent groove of ‘Cheerleader’. Special mention must go to the choppy, instantly distinctive guitar work of Daniel Rossen, best exemplified by the magnificent ‘While You Wait For The Others’, possibly the ’Bear’s finest song to date, and one that will sound absolutely immense live – although, in a mystifying track-listing balls-up, it’s buried away in what used to be known as ‘side two’. That aside, it’s hard to pick fault with an album that, like Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion earlier this year, constitutes an ambitious career high that reveals more and more delights with each listen. Still, shame about that title. Neill Dougan

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DOWNLOAD: ‘WHILE YOU WAIT FOR THE OTHERS’, ‘TWO WEEKS’, ‘FINE FOR NOW’, ‘CHEERLEADER’.
FOR FANS OF: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE, DEPARTMENT OF EAGLES.

Posted on: June 4, 2009