The world of Grizzly Bear, it seems, moves far more slowly than the one the rest of us inhabit. It’s been five years since the Brooklyn-by-way-of-LA outfit last released an album, Shields, and in that time the tectonic plates in culture, politics, everything, have shifted dramatically. You wouldn’t be able to tell any of that from Painted Ruins, which sounds like Grizzly Bear shaking themselves back into gear after a short nap.
The intricate chamber pop that marked the band out as one of the most interesting of the late noughties indie scene is largely unchanged, with only the lightest dusting of funk (on Aquarian) or electronics (on Three Rings) added to the mix this time around. This shouldn’t be taken as a criticism: so imaginative and detailed is their sound that only the slightest fine-tuning is ever really required, and when its constituent parts come together, as during the wonderfully groggy climax of album closer Sky Took Hold, there are few that can match them.
