Songs Fit for a Mouse: Grizzly Bear

Map It:  U Street-Cardozo 

GRIZZLY BEAR'S SOPHOMORE record, "Yellow House" (Warp), is an ethereal hybrid of bedroom folk, laptop texture and Van Dyke Parks-style Americana. One could easily imagine Disney licensing songs such as "Central and Remote" and "Easier" for a hipper, more P.C. remake of "Song of the South."

Yet for all of the arrangements, harmonies and delicate sonic ornamentation, Grizzly Bear is surprisingly flexible live, its musicians often switching around the arrangements and set lists to suit the audience.

"We appreciate seeing music live and having it be different from the album," said singer/songwriter Edward Droste. "We try to create a set that caters to the specific space or band we're opening for."

Not that the decisions are entirely due to noble artistry. "It's partially interest and partially because we can't afford to hire the extra musicians," he said.

Still, Tuesday's sold-out show opening for Feist at the 9:30 Club might be the last chance anybody has to see Grizzly Bear for a while. After completing its current tour with the Canadian starlet, the band plans to get down to business on writing a new record — which might take a little time.

According to Droste, Grizzly Bear's creative method is about as mysterious as the band's sound. "We don't really have a process," said Droste. "Sometimes it's a bit nerve-wracking.

"The past album isn't something that came together in a practice space," he said.

More often than not, the members of Grizzly Bear sketch out ideas alone and then refine them into songs together, through myriad confusing methods. "Dan [Rossen] and I had songs; then in the yellow house [Droste's mother's home, from which the "Yellow House" album takes its name] things took cohesive shape," he said.

Droste pointed to "Yellow House"'s epic closing song, "Colorado," as one example of the band's compositional style. "'Colorado' was a two-minute sketch that I had, then the others put a musical ending on it, then I went back and did vocals over that."

Still, Droste said the seeds of the songs are always written first. "It's not like we have a loop or something and say, 'Let's make a song out of that.'"

Instead, the electronic textures that give Grizzly Bear its woozy and pastoral character are often applied last. Hearing Droste discuss it, though, the subject of effects seemed to be a tense one. "We definitely don't want to get into ambient atmospherics. Sometimes it's like 'Do we really need all of this texture?'" said the singer.

Still, Droste seemed genuinely excited when imagining his group's next record. "This time maybe we'll try to do more stuff as a band," he said. "There will be more going on, dynamically speaking: louder songs, higher highs and lower lows."

» 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; Wed., 7:30 p.m., sold out; 202-265-0930. (U St.-Cardozo)

Written by Express contributor Aaron Leitko

Photo by Patryce Bak; courtesy Grizzly Bear