Department Of Eagles - 'In Ear Park' (4AD) Released 06/10/08

It's under other guises we've been hearing of the Department Of Eagles duo of Fred Nicolaus and Daniel Rossen, with Rossen making chunk-size contributions to Grizzly Bear's sophomore release, 'Yellow House' with singing, guitar and song-writing tasks. In 2003, Department Of Eagles 'The Cold Nose' explored a sonic palette with a modernist touch of skewhiffery from prominent left-field beats and samples, and a indie flavour best exemplified on 'Romo-Goth', yet listening today the album already sounds dated. 'In Ear Park', however, goes down the vintage mile and puts paid to the short shelf-life. A bricolage of psychedelic folk-pop harmonies and tumbling melodies is the mien here, and stirs in the manner of waking consciousness where the haze of sleep surrounds the fuzzy noodle. Awakening, we find a garden of earthly delights with the vintage hallmark of M Ward married with Panda Bear's ('Person Pitch') vocally textured harmonies, all and sundry sharing a bed  with Grizzly Bear's 'Yellow House' suite-like arrangements in a music-hall lit by Patrick Watson.

The coterie of Nicolaus and Rossen is expanded and the duo are joined by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor on electric bass and horns as well as producer, and Chris Bear on drums, yet it's the childhood memories and nostalgia of Rossen and Nicolaus that provide the props in the songwriting, in the non-conventional non-too-memorable word-as-sound mode, that is. The nickname for a park in L.A. that Rossen / Nicolaus would visit furnishes 'In Ear Park', leading the album with piano and kora-like sounds as whispered vocals produce an affecting merry-go-round beauty, and 'No One Does It' imbues a skip happy gaiety à la Incredible String Band and a Kinks-like accessibility. The delightful 'Teenagers' has a tipsy hall-of-mirrors charm with a Clinic-like waltz, while shades of The Beatles 'White Album' lend a carnival nuance as 'Phantom Other' forms a reverie of lazy vocal and acoustic guitar strumming, with Rossen asking - "...what would it take to make you  mine...", aria-like vocals hovering from above.

'Waves Of Rye' finds an emotional undertow as guitar reverb and piano par like a Patrick Watson-esque cabaret crossed with Queen (of all bands) and Rossen's vocals comprise the crashing surf, while 'Around The Bay' strikes up the woodwind like a rag-folk band augmented by rhythmical flamenco-like hand-claps, and the banjofied 'Balmy Night' has Rossen lift his falsetto on high. 'Classical Records' finds Rossen singing - "Do you listen to/ your classical records, anymore/ or do you let them sleep/ in their sleeves..." in memory of his father to whom the album is dedicated, yet singing to more memorable effect on the sun-drenched Ray-Davies-like 'Floating on The Lehigh', where there's a feeling of letting it all hang out on a sunny afternoon, with the dithering 'Herring Bone' ushering one of the lesser surprises.

If you found Animal Collective's 'Strawberry Jam' confuse-adelia such a sticky over-boiled pan of a conserve, then look no further. 'In Ear Park' is a harbinger of good omens for the next Grizzly Bear album, yet this is unmistakably Department Of Eagles - a mellow affair by a long shot, with harmony the touchstone. With some four years from conception to actualisation, there's the personal resonance and nostalgic feel as well the svelte production that makes 'In Ear Park' far from a wispy affair, more a latter-day vintage classic marked by its' unflusteredness. Another year of roses for 4AD then.