Brooklyn Philharmonic Presents:
Final Fantasy + Grizzly Bear
Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)
February 28th


It's really hard to not look a-hoot at these sort of functions. I can't help but stare at all the hippity-hop darlings in their tailored threads and perfectly unkempt hair. I'm waiting outside for my pals amid the mass of pavement flowers ornamenting the scene and it feels as though my neck involuntarily extends to the right, for no particular reason and who do I spot? It's Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear, returning to the venue from a jaunty 'hood stroll. You can imagine what this episode is doing to my already unhealthy fascination with the handsome devil.

We slide into the balcony just as the lights go down. Mr. Final Fantasy, Owen Pallet, besides some awkward stage banter with the BP conductor, seems right at home with orchestral support and his sharp-crooner vocals mirror everything his recordings offer--crystalline constructs of delicate song presents. Grizzly Bear are equally musically strong, but they seem a bit nervous. I purchased balcony seats because I wanted to yell obscene phrases of jubilation but there's something about this venue that is making me want to act all golden-star. My head pulsates with pain, probably because the rest of my body really wants to dance whilst the circumstances disallow any motion whatsoever. Much of the set list included a nice mix of oldies and newies + the newies gimme hives for the new album which isn't released until May which is SO FAR AWAY.

I'm sure the orchestral support rightly suited Pallet's oeuvre, but it kind of ironed out Grizzly Bear's creases, which I missed. This difference was most apparent in the encore, which featured the quartet on their own--thank goodness for that. Usually, the make-shift situation of a live setting forces them to compress their micro-symphonies into something almost entirely different, which often eliminates expectations in a positive way--but there was something easy-bake about having a orchestra at their beck 'n call that I'm not sure was flattering. Don't get me wrong, it was incredibly beautiful, but in some ways it resembled a type of Grizzly Bear musak more than I had anticipated. I was hoping for more witty anecdotal audience interaction, but Nico Muhly's costume changes served more than enough comic relief. I love Nico, but the boy needs my stylistic services, like STAT. So I didn't dissolve into molecules like I thought I might, just got a mother-headache. That Chris Taylor looks mighty fine with a tenor sax, don't he?