AWmusic

The second album from Department of Eagles has been a long time coming, mainly thanks to the attention grabbing virtuosity Daniel Rossen has displayed in Grizzly Bear, the scattering of interesting demos and unrelated Department of Eagles material that has been floating around the net for aeons, and at the very least, the recent ascent of Mr Rossen’s profile with his other band as they play on Conan, Letterman and tour with Radiohead. Appetites have wetted, heads have turned and collective internal monologues have murmured, “Wait, this Grizzly Bear guy has another band…”
Inevitable comparisons to Grizzly Bear abound, especially when both groups seem to roam in a similar baroque and elegiac musical landscapes with corresponding accoutrements of guitar, piano and strings, but its probably best to forget about the baggage that comes with resemblances and listen to In Ear Park on its own terms, as was intended, as an album from a group that predated one member’s more successful other one and a platform for personal catharsis, wholly embellished and supplemented by a succession of ambitious musical arrangements.
Sonically, the music here closely resembles the kind of experiments done by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks on Smile. “No One Does It Like You” even clomps along like a distant cousin to “God Only Knows” with the kind of layers of percussion and harmony that alerted The Beatles to the West Coast in 1966. This rich instrumental depth additionally evokes memories of late 60s film soundtracks, performed by a Hollywood house band and touched by the hand of Burt Bacharach or Harry Nilsson, but for an entrenched use of ornate retro production techniques in a form of music that is rarely cutting edge, the end result is complimentary as opposed to being reductive.
It’s the substance of the songs that elevate In Ear Park from being a shallow appropriation of rock’s golden age and particularly the emotional depth of the material as it deals with the fleeting nature of existence and the prevalence of loss. The macro of an expansive sound coupled with the micro of the intimate creates an achingly beautiful disclosure, often connected to therapeutic images of the natural world. Parks, rivers and fields are places of abiding memory and the anxiety of existence is divulged in arresting moments of pained eloquence. Phrases like, “My God in heaven, what were we thinking?” or “Oh boy when you’re gone, you are gone” are sung with a haunting poignancy as the fertile sounds (that blossom with each recurring listen) frame the emotional in a lasting and affecting musical panorama.
Rossen has admitted that the material produced for this release was unsuitable for his other unit and perhaps this level of confidentiality is unique to his first band? But it’s doubtful that the lucidity presented on In Ear Park will remain on one single record. This album may capture the personal, when most of the songs are essentially based on the pathos of the passing of time, but these intimations are graceful and inclusive rather than mawkish and self-indulgent, when recalled through the nostalgic visual imagery contained therein. If all albums are caught moments of time, both for a band and in terms of content, In Ear Park is a particularly lush and vivid one.

Department Of Eagles – No One Does It Like You

Department Of Eagles – In Ear Park

Tags: album