Honey in the Pot

Remember high school dances, when the boys and the girls would stand on opposite walls and desperately try not to stare at each other? That was sort of the feel at last night's intimate, sold-out Grizzly Bear show at the Parish. You could practically see the red cartoon hearts floating out of the crowd, while the four members of the band tried not to stare back. It was an awkward love-fest with a capital V-neck.

The Internets decided 2006's Yellow House sounded like the Beach Boys, which is always unfortunate, but last night they sounded like... Grizzly Bear. With latest Veckatimest, there's a sophistication, a symphonic sound that has no real discernible roots. It's like they desperately wanted to be Steely Dan, but the overachievers in them have done the extra credit and graduated early. The harmonies heard last night were 100 percent.

Despite the Parish heat, new cuts "Southern Point," Fine For Now," "Cheerleader," and "Two Weeks" sounded crystalline, and songs from Yellow House eased back into woozier territory. They're an impressively self-sufficient unit, all four singing and switching up instruments. They're choir boys with an ear for discord and reverb.