| Veckatimest | ||||
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| Studio album by Grizzly Bear | ||||
| Released | May 26, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2008 | |||
| Genre | Indie Folk Indie Rock Psych Folk Folk Rock Baroque Pop |
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| Length | 52:02 | |||
| Label | Warp | |||
| Producer | Chris Taylor | |||
| Grizzly Bear chronology | ||||
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| Bonus Disc Cover | ||||
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Special Edition
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Veckatimest is the third full-length studio album by American indie rock band Grizzly Bear, released on May 26, 2009 on Warp Records. The album is named after a small island in Dukes County, Massachusetts.
Veckatimest debuted at #8 on the US Billboard 200, selling 33,000 copies in its first week of release.[1]
Contents |
The recording of Veckatimest began in the summer of 2008 at Allaire Studios in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York.[2][3] Regarding the writing process, Ed Droste states:[4]
| “ | We knew it had to be done differently because Yellow House came from pre-existing songs that either Daniel Rossen or I had written, as well as a couple that we wrote together. But we were really starting with a blank slate with Veckatimest, so there was sort of this question mark of, "Do we even know how to write together and collaborate together? How will this work?" And we were pleasantly surprised when everyone presented their ideas much earlier on in the stages of development, which allowed for a lot of other people in the band to get involved in the songs. In the past, someone presented a song and [other members would be] like, "This song is done. He wrote the parts. Let's play them." | ” |
Nico Muhly collaborated with Grizzly Bear on this album.[5] In the interim they debuted four new songs: "Two Weeks," "While You Wait for the Others," "Fine for Now," and "Cheerleader."[6] They also performed "While You Wait for the Others" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on April 21, 2008, and performed "Two Weeks" on Late Show with David Letterman on July 23, 2008.[7] The band performed the track "Two Weeks" Live in the UK on Later... with Jools Holland on 5 May 2009[8]
The tracks "Cheerleader," "Ready, Able," "I Live with You," and "Foreground" feature the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
A deluxe edition was released November 2, 2009 in Europe. Along with the twelve original tracks, it contained an exclusive 24 page booklet and a bonus disc of Veckatimest tracks recorded in various locations. Although the release was exclusive to Europe, the bonus tracks were released digitally to the US in the iTunes store.[9]
An unmastered version of the album leaked before its release. Regarding this, Ed Droste states:[4]
| “ | We knew it was gonna leak and we were prepared for that, but really, the biggest bummer for us was that we spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort into making sure that it's a really rich recording-- recording it to tape and doing all these nice sonic details-- and then it leaked and I remember listening to it and it sounded like an underwater YouTube stream or something. It was really, really bad. And so it's just a bummer to think of everyone's first impressions of this album being this horribly compressed, terrible-quality version of the album. But that said, the excitement behind it and everyone's reaction was really encouraging and exciting for us to see. I think people find their own way of showing support, whether it be through an album sale or coming to a concert or even just telling some friends about it. Obviously, the leak didn't hurt us because we debuted in the Top 10. You've gotta be sort of Zen about it. | ” |
The abstract drawing was created by William O'Brien and chosen by Droste, whom he had known since high school.[10] Although the piece wasn't originally intended to be used as Veckatimest's artwork, O'Brien had been working on it at the same time as Grizzly Bear was working on the record. After contacting O'Brien requesting to use one of his pieces for the new album, Droste received a number of examples to decide which one he felt worked best for the album. Initially O'Brien was surprised Droste had chosen that specific piece for the artwork as he felt it had an "awkward placement" to it, but after hearing the album he reconsidered the piece, "it was like this amazing, beautiful thing that happened".[10] Along with Veckatimest, O'Brien also created the artwork for the accompanying singles, and the European bonus disc. Although unclarified, it is most likely that the other artwork for the singles and bonus disc was taken from the same abstract series that spawned the Veckatimest piece as they all have a similar nature.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Southern Point" | 5:02 |
| 2. | "Two Weeks" | 4:03 |
| 3. | "All We Ask" | 5:21 |
| 4. | "Fine for Now" | 5:31 |
| 5. | "Cheerleader" | 4:54 |
| 6. | "Dory" | 4:26 |
| 7. | "Ready, Able" | 4:17 |
| 8. | "About Face" | 3:21 |
| 9. | "Hold Still" | 2:24 |
| 10. | "While You Wait for the Others" | 4:29 |
| 11. | "I Live with You" | 4:57 |
| 12. | "Foreground" | 3:35 |
| Japan-only bonus track | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 13. | "Untitled #6" | 3:44 | |||||||
| Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Southern Point (KCRW Session)" | 5:23 | |||||||
| 2. | "All We Ask" (KCMP Session)" | 4:32 | |||||||
| 3. | "Ready, Able" (KCRW Session)" | 4:07 | |||||||
| 4. | "Foreground" (Duyster Session)" | 3:08 | |||||||
| 5. | "Two Weeks" (BBC Maida Vale Session)" | 4:04 | |||||||
| 6. | "Dory" (World Cafe Session)" | 3:38 | |||||||
| 7. | "While You Wait For The Others" (BBC Maida Vale Session)" | 4:30 | |||||||
The following people contributed to Veckatimest:[11]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| The A.V. Club | (A) link |
| Robert Christgau | (C+) link |
| NME | (8/10) link |
| Pitchfork Media | (9.0/10) link |
| Q | link |
| Rolling Stone | link |
| Spin | link |
Upon release, Veckatimest was greeted with widespread critical acclaim, currently holding a score of 85 at aggregate critic review site, MetaCritic.[12] The album is generally viewed by critics as a large step forward for Grizzly Bear in regards to partial genre-blending, musical complexity and experimentation.
Both "While You Wait for the Others" and "Two Weeks" appeared in Pitchfork Media's Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s, ranking at #334 and #162 respectively.[13] The album was ranked #42 on their list of the decade's top 200 albums.[14] Rhapsody called it the 8th best album of 2009.[15] Official music videos have been produced for "Two Weeks", "While You Wait for the Others", and "Ready, Able". Veckatimest was also voted Stereogum's 2nd best album of 2009.[16]
Veckatimest also managed to place well on many "End of the Year" lists, with Rolling Stone placing it at 21st best album of the year.[17] Spin Magazine placing it at 4.[18] Pitchfork Media also placed it at 6th place [19]
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| ARIA Charts | 41 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) | 20 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) | 34 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 49 |
| French Albums Chart | 73 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 44 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 14 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 41 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 96 |
| UK Albums Chart | 24 |
| US Billboard Top 200 | 8[20] |
| US Billboard Top Independent Albums | 1[21] |
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