Warp Records
2007
Friend
About This Album
At 11 tracks long, Friend barely qualifies as an EP, and yet it's far too weird and scattered -- in the best possible way -- to work as a full-fledged Grizzly Bear album. As kitchen sink eclectic as Yellow House was polished and cohesive, Friend tosses new versions of songs from both Yellow House and Horn of Plenty in with new songs, covers, and cameos from some of the band's closest pals. The reworkings of Horn of Plenty tracks are some of the mini-album's most striking moments: "Alligator (Choir Version)" turns the song from homespun glitch-pop into trippy, thundering rock, with Beirut and the Dirty Projectors lending their voices to the aforementioned choir. "Shift" is just as fragile and spooky here as it was in its original version, but its expansiveness shows just how much Grizzly Bear's sound has grown -- literally -- since the Horn of Plenty days. On the flip side, the band distorts and deconstructs the songs from Yellow House almost beyond recognition. "Little Brother (Electric Version)" trades the original's delicate picking for huge riffs, while two of Yellow House's other definitive songs, "Knife" and "Plans," get makeovers courtesy of two bands that couldn't sound more different from Grizzly Bear or each other.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,7 and 8)

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