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department of eagles - in ear park

i don’t feel like this duo gets as much credit as many other side-projects of generally appreciated artists. this might sound indistinguishable from grizzly bear to you, and for good reason; DoE are made up of fred nicholas and grizzly bear’s daniel rossen, and this album also features almost the entire rest of the band, with christopher bear and chris taylor also contributing their talents. daniel rossen is truthfully one of the most underrated songwriters in american indie music right now, and his remarkable abilities are presented to their fullest on this track. the climax sounds like a carousel ridden by benevolent ghosts. 

department of eagles are distinctly more loose than grizzly bear, with trip-hop, waves of banjo, obnoxious song titles, and a general sense of irreverence being substituted for solemn awe. there’s a sense of humor present on most of their tracks, though in ear park was written in response to rossen’s father’s death. otherwise, parallels are easily drawn, and this experimental endeavor shines even in comparison to grizzly bear’s musical accomplishments.