Grizzly Bear began as a home recording project for Boston-bred experimentalist
Edward Droste, the son of an elementary school teacher, who laid the groundwork for the band's otherworldly debut album on a small hand-held tape recorder while holed up for 15 months in his Greenpoint, Brooklyn, apartment. His homespun D.I.Y. effort took on new life with the help of multi-instrumentalist
Christopher Bear, a Chicago native who had worked in a diverse range of musical projects ranging from laptop electronica to free jazz, who added additional instrumentation and vocals to
Droste's stripped-down sonic blueprints.
The resulting album,
Horn of Plenty -- a pet project originally meant only for
Droste's friends -- eventually circulated through New York's underground music scene, with its unique blend of acoustic instruments, layered vocals, and found sounds earning comparisons to alt-rock heavy-hitters such as
Sigur Rós,
Sufjan Stevens, and
Animal Collective. Originally released to little fanfare in 2004, the album gained momentum thanks to copious touring, with
Chris Taylor joining the band on reeds and electronics, and
Daniel Rossen providing additional guitar and vocals. It was reissued in 2005 as a two-CD set featuring remixes by
Dntel (of
the Postal Service),
Final Fantasy,
Solex, and
the Soft Pink Truth (aka
Drew Daniel of
Matmos). An album of
Droste's early demo recordings, Sorry for the Delay, was released in 2006 as the band finished up recording
Yellow House, their second proper full-length album. Warp signed the band that spring and released
Yellow House that fall. A year later, the
Friend EP, which featured cameos from
Beirut,
CSS, and
Band of Horses arrived. For 2009's elaborate
Veckatimest, the band collaborated with contemporary classical composer/conductor
Nico Muhly,
Beach House vocalist
Victoria LeGrand, the Acme String Quartet and the Brooklyn Youth Choir. ~ Bret Love, All Music Guide