Sunday, September 7, 2008

New MuSick: Department of Eagles

"No one does it like you..."

If you haven't gotten your hands on this leak yet, I suggest you search a little harder. Department of Eagles, side-project of Grizzly Bear co-songwriter Daniel Rossen, has a new album entitled In Ear Park, and it's sure to please those of you who dig Rossen's Griz compositions (looking at you McG). The album is in the loud/quiet folk style of Yellow House standouts "Little Brother" and "On a Neck, On a Spit", but with some welcome experimentation (the song "Teenagers" being the best departure). And while the album doesn't move in the same pop direction as the upcoming Grizzly Bear album promises to, I don't think I'll ever tire of Rossen's soprano croon. As to how Daniel chose which songs would be Grizzly Bear and which DoE, he says-

"A lot of these songs felt way too personal to bring to Grizzly Bear-- there's a lot of childhood nostalgia and an emphasis on more concise songwriting. Fred and I had license to try some things that I could never get away with otherwise, but we still went for the lushness and and attention to sonic detail that Chris and I always want out of a recording. I'm excited."

Yeah, he's referring to one of the two Chris' from GB, as they both helped out on the album. In Ear Park comes out on October 7th, and I've been told Daniel went through several test pressings to get it the way he wanted it (and I mean SEVERAL), expanding it from a single LP to double (much to the chagrin of label 4AD). Also, the pre-order comes with a free 7"! In deference to my friend Ami, I'm only gonna post a stream to the title track, but trust me, you're gonna want to buy/steal this album in it's entirety.

"In Ear Park" stream

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