Grizzly Bears (with coats)

As a student at Belmont University in Nashville, I have to take a class called Studio Production. This class examines production techniques for various styles and genres of music. As part of our tutelage, we write “song journals” for various songs. Each person in the class is given the opportunity to bring in a song that they feel exemplifies excellent (or unique) production. I am working on one of these right now.

This particular collection of song journal songs is not some of my favorite music ever, but it did bring to my attention two songs/artists that I felt were worth mentioning.

The first is the song "2 weeks" by the band Grizzly Bears. Now, for those of you who know me, this band is already endeared to me by the mere mention of bears. But on top of that, their sound is really quite excellent. You can find them here and here.
They feature very melodic vocals, lots of interesting bells and whistles in the backgrounds, and a wonderful sense of syncopation over straight rhythms.

The second song from our listening journal is entitled "Black Duck Blues" by The Young Republic. LINK!

Acoustic intro, raunchy guitar tone, and a story about rum-running to boot? I love this song. The Young Republic are also Tennessee natives. They have a very bluesy storytelling vibe about them that I greatly appreciate in bands.

Anyway, gotta go finish my actual work now, check out those two bands!

~Ben