Grizzly Bear @ Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, 9 March

Article by Nick Mitchell | 11 Mar 2010

This billing is surely an indie purist's dream. And tonight's purists could be forgiven for leaving daytime reality at the door as Beach House cast their intoxicating web of psychedelia. Circled by weird lighting props that resemble huge mushrooms, Victoria Legrand croons behind locks of curly hair while Alex Scally's honey-coated guitar wraps the room in a warm resonance. The distinctive Gila rouses a few cheers from the onlookers, but for most part this disarming support show is more entrancing than enlivening.

A different kind of adulation greets the incoming Grizzly Bear. The Brooklynites take to the stage to a raucous reception and delve straight into a sparse version of the opus-like Southern Point, opener to last year's Veckatimest. As if to illustrate the fact that their material extends beyond this celebrated LP, they intersperse it with oldies like the 50s-sounding Knife and the epic Colorado.

While at times the quartet's individual talents are almost overwhelming in unison, the night's exhilarating highlight arrives with the joyous Two Weeks, where Legrand returns to reprise the guest vocals she provided on the original. While Daniel Rossen seems like the band leader, switching effortlessly between guitar and electric piano, it's Ed Droste who often steals the limelight with his soaring voice. The crowd are stirred again with the dramatic, stamping chorus of I Live With You, and when the band return for an unplugged encore it's as if the whole room is spirited away. [Nick Mitchell]

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