Grizzly Bear Re-Born

Don't have a ton of time at the moment (impromptu cleaning "party" at work), but a really great record came out today in Grizzly Bear's Friend EP. They're calling it an EP because it's not really a proper LP. Re-mixes, new arrangements, covers (by band of horses, CSS, and others) and entire re-dos highlight this 10-song album. As I looked down the tracklist, these two immediately caught my eye. Yellow House is still one of my top 3 albums of last year, but I liked it a lot more than 2005's Horn of Plenty. "Shift" was one of my favorites from that LP, but the live version from La Blogotheque totally hooked me. This is the studio version of that incredibly beautiful version. The "Alligator" from Horn is barely more than a minute long, a strange AM-radio effect on the vocal. This rendition, with the help of Beirut and Dirty Projectors, immediately transforms into one of Grizzly Bear's best songs. It's a proper track now, 5:15 long, and filled with transcendent melodies and rapturous swells. Grizzly Bear, you kill me.

Listen:
Shift (alternate version)
Alligator (choir version)
[from Friend EP|buy]