"The best word to use is baffled," Ed Droste, one of the group's two vocalists says when we meet at Neuehouse, a flavorless members-only luxury freelancer cage in Hollywood. He's not a member, but somewhere along in the PR machinery the location was suggested, and it seemed less contrived than going for a group Runyon Canyon hike that screamed, "NYC BAND MOVES TO LA, GETS SUNTAN.""Everywhere I turn I'm like, 'You did that? You said that? You made this? You just put out that? What is going on?'"
It was a peak that very few bands ever reach and no band ever sustains. In all quarters, their credibility was unimpeachable. Radiohead tabbed Grizzly Bear to open for an amphitheater and arena tour, and Jonny Greenwood called them his favorite band. As Tyler, the Creator first emerged from his Tumblr bunker, he growled to the world, "Grizzly Bear swags their shit out." I know you heard "Two Weeks." If you don't think you did, you inevitably eavesdropped it in samples by Childish Gambino or G-Eazy, or on Gossip Girl or How I Met Your Mother. or in that Super Bowl Volkswagen commercial that rankled Apple's Chief Technology Goth, Trent Reznor. That was the hit, a certified soft rock banger, except for the fact that its piano riff was basically identical to "Still D-R-E-." No need for Scott Storch either. They had Michael McDonald, who returned to glory with his chef's kiss cover of "While You Wait for the Others."If you're wondering why "Why Grizzly Bear" and "Why Then," there isn't an easy answer. Life is fucking arbitrary. Solange was fucking with them. Their harmonies were super clean. The music was quirky but not strange. They never wore stupid suits or posed with sunglasses on a 32 degree day in New York trying to look cool. Yeah, there's a few goofy photos of them in sweaters. So it goes. To use the Hipster Runoff parlance of the time, they seemed like the most chill of the pretty chill, bros. They were the archetypal Brooklyn band of the era, which was Brooklyn's era. They partially defined the late 00s, but they stood apart from the time, too."[Grizzly Bear is] an incredible band. What the indie rock movement is doing right now is very inspiring. It felt like us in the beginning. These concerts, they're not on the radio, no one hears about them, and there's 12,000 people in attendance. And the music that they're making and the connection they're making to people is really inspiring."
"It was like, 'why am I paying all this money to live here when it's too popular and crowded to do the things that I that want to do, the things that I used to love doing are no longer here, and lot of people I love are leaving?'" Droste says. "I know that's partially a matter of age, but I just kept having visions of being old there. Then I was like, fuck that, I'm just not a New Yorker. My time here is up."But Droste and Grizzly Bear's coastal reversal reflects more than just the desire for more closet space and avocados in your 30s. Run down the bands lionized in the 00s New York City rock hagiography, Meet Me In the Bathroom, and you'll realize members of The Strokes, Animal Collective, The Yeah Yeahs, TV On The Radio and Vampire Weekend all reside much of the year in LA. If you lived in the city, you didn't need a glib-but-grave indie rock obituary to know that the era had clapped its last hands. You could've just found yourself downward facing dog in a Silver Lake yoga class next to Angel Deradoorian and Amber Coffman from The Dirty Projectors (it happened to me once, and I apologize for making you read that sentence)."I know that's partially a matter of age, but I just kept having visions of being old there. Then I was like, fuck that, I'm just not a New Yorker. My time here is up."
If it feels like Daniel Rossen has been slightly absent, it's not out of a lack of importance but because he doesn't quite fit. By temperament, he's an outlier—a loner, who for long stretches lived in plaintive upstate nowhere. Out of the members of the group, Rossen is the only one not to relocate to Los Angeles, even though he's the only actual native."I couldn't wait to rely on them, and that's what eventually happened."