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This album is a big step forward for Department of Eagles, a playground of sound that celebrates the pull of memories and music.
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In Ear Park sounds so much like Grizzly Bear that it’s difficult to recognize, at first, that it does occasionally retain the bedroom DIY aesthetic for which Department of Eagles are known, especially in the sense of its canned percussion, and at the album’s best it keeps the music attempting the scope and lushness of Grizzly Bear.
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Without a heavy-handed disposition, Department of Eagles manages to convey the sentiment of another time while reaching a modern audience.
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This second album (featuring Grizzly Bear's Chris Bear and Chris Taylor) is a sumptuous sequence of symphonic meditations on memory and loss that somehow manage to give a more expansive twist to the already elegiac mood of Arcade Fire's Funeral.
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Ambitious and complex, it's stuffed with cocooning harmonies and shimmering, sunlight-smacking-the-Pacific melodies--a languid, easy West Coast record (think Randy Newman or SMiLE), infused with classic East Coast anxiety.
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Songs begin lethargically and the vocals and instruments grope at each other, struggling to agree on how to establish the rhythm. Once they coalesce, each blooms, but the tracks refuse to linger in the thrall of the climax.
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Ear Park provides a valuable service while showcasing Rossen as skilled composer and arranger in his own right.
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In Ear Park improves on Grizzly Bear’s psychedelic folk æsthetic by both fleshing it out and making it more accessible.
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Through all of the musical intricacies and variances, Rossen and Nicolaus have truly created one of the best albums of the year.
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Under The RadarWhat makes it outstanding is its strong songs, as well as Rossen and Nicolaus’ stunning attention to detail, marking Ear Park as a spot for extended and repeated visits. [Fall 2008, p.75]
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MojoFans of Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs take note. [Nov 2008, p.19]
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The WireIt could all, of course, be unbearably mannered, but the duo's constant striving for layered perfection, contrasted with the very human qualities of the vocals, keep it grounded in some sort of feeling. [Sep 2008, p.61]
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No one will begrudge him returning to his day job with Grizzly Bear, but anyone who hears In Ear Park will be hoping he takes another working holiday as soon as he gets the chance.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 16 out of 18
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Mixed: 0 out of 18
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Negative: 2 out of 18
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MikeF.Nov 25, 2008A beautiful, floating dream of an album.
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OliverC.Nov 5, 2008
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MirandaH.Oct 24, 2008So excited for Floating on the Lehigh...now I can live down Billy Joel's Allentown in peace.