Rossen perfects creepy folk sound with new EP release

There is truly no one else in indie music — or in the music industry as a whole — that sounds like Daniel Rossen. He has mastered a kind of eerie, gothic style of acoustic folk that diffuses into the darkest corners of our minds and shakes us like a brisk autumn gust. His genre is not quite freak folk, it’s more like creep folk that combines the unpredictable imagination of Van Dyke Parks with the technical fret proficiency of Davey Graham. Rossen’s style has undeniably influenced the catalogs of Brooklyn-indie kings Grizzly Bear and the less heralded (but equally talented) side-project Department of Eagles. With that in mind, stepping out for a solo venture seemed like a logical next step for Rossen as the indie world impatiently waits for the next Grizzly Bear album. On his new EP Silent Hour/Golden Mile, Rossen does more refining than innovating, fine-tuning his sound and stabilizing his revered niche in indie folk.

The opening track, “Up on High,” reveals a sense of relief that seems autobiographical. The music for this EP was mostly written after the conclusion of Grizzly Bear’s massive Veckatimest world tour in 2009-10, and Rossen seems overjoyed to finally have a moment to catch his breath and create again. “In this big empty room / I finally feel free,” Rossen yells over an acoustic storm of guitars and pounding timpani drums. The choppy melody evokes images of a ship bobbing gently on an expansive sea, only to be rocked to its core by jolting tidal waves of sound.

“Silent Song” comes next with a 70’s AM radio atmosphere that adds a new dimension to Rossen’s catalog. A slide guitar soars over acoustic power chords and a skiffling rock beat, while Rossen tells the scornful tale of an arrogant man brought to his knees by the cruel nature of alcoholism. The lyrics are right in Rossen’s wheelhouse, as he’s always seemed to enjoy cutting down those who are annoyingly smug.

“Return to Form” finds Rossen proving why he’s fast becoming one of the most revered guitar players in the indie scene. The song starts out at a blazing pace of electronic fingerpicking with a twinge of reverb that makes it seem as if he’s playing much slower than he actually is. A jazzy shuffle beat and somber horns soon join in for a bridge that keeps building toward an absolute sonic explosion of guitar shredding, glockenspiel and angelic harmonies. Underlying it all is a menacing string section echoing the stern orchestra sounds of the Department of Eagles “Around the Bay.”

Silent Hour’s most memorable track, “Saint Nothing,” follows the atmospheric climax of “Return to Form” with a haunting, minimalistic piano arrangement. “Saint Nothing” easily ranks among Rossen’s best tracks with any project. The slow, driving chords echo a funeral dirge that would sound best in an empty church. Sparse horn arrangements create somber retro images of men in overcoats and top hats silently walking the streets of 1920’s New York. Through it all, there remains an image of a small speck of light that beckons in the night. The song is constantly walking toward that place of eternal light, and probably keeps walking that way long after the actual track ends.

“Golden Mile” closes out the EP as a hybrid blend of the bitterness displayed in Department of Eagles’ In Ear Park and the efficiency of Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House. The track features unrelenting, blistering acoustic pickings equaled by the skilled percussion of Dr. Dog drummer Eric Slick. “Golden Mile” is an exercise in controlled chaos that takes Roy Harper’s most impassioned statements and infuses them with caffeine. “Say the words / Break the spell,” Rossen pleads, but then adds as a final warning, “Say the words in your mind / Before you shout out loud.” Perhaps it’s Rossen’s reminder that we should temper our expectations for the upcoming Grizzly Bear album. But so long as Mr. Rossen is involved, it’s hard not to get irrational about what might come next.