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The Eagle in the Woods: Department of Eagles @ Doug Fir
By Charlie | January 29, 2009
Living in Portland has its advantages. One of those is the beautiful Doug Fir Lounge. Located on East Burnside, the Doug Fir has a log cabin appeal, as if a fifties diner suddenly was transported to Twin Peaks. They have a bar and restaurant above ground, and an almost perfect venue downstairs. Hosting some of today’s coolest indie bands, the Doug Fir is like a guaranteed good time.
On Tuesday, January 27th the Doug Fir hosted Department of Eagles, one of those side projects from an insanely talented group of guys that just about everyone instantly loves. The guys in question are members of Brooklyn’s ambient popsters Grizzly Bear. Fronted by Daniel Rossen and featuring long time friend Fred Nicolaus, Department of Eagles plays like a dreary and dreamy counterpart to Grizzly Bear’s Pro Tools intoxication.
Opening for Dept of Eagles was Seattle’s Cave Singers- they were great! But who cares?!?
So, the Dept (as I will now call them) start things off simple. Rossen sits down with a seemingly too long Banjo and begins plucking the opening to “Balmy Night”, and the crowd goes silent. Really silent. A packed room of 300 emitting a thousand conversations cuts it as soon as the lights go up on Rossen. This guy commands the crowd, that much is obvious.
Live, the Dept loses some of their distant squinting-at-the-horizon-kind-of-blurry effects, the hazy air of their recordings can’t quite come through on the small stage. This is clear as soon as the group comes out in full, with Grizzly’s own Christopher Bear on drums! Holy smokes! They dive into “In Ear Park” the opening of the Dept’s latest album of the same title. The ode to Rossen’s late father carries a more immediate and heartfelt tone live, with Rossen’s voice emoting and feeling the lyrics more so than the recording would suggest. It is a somber moment, one that is repeated throughout the set. Other album favorites come and go, including more acoustic and straightforward versions of “Phantom Other” and “Around the Bay”.
Throughout the songs, Fred is having massive difficulties with his gear, keyboards die, guitars snooze, he just can’t quite figure it. He jokes that it’s the curse put on him by wearing a funny shirt and scaring a child earlier in the day (he also tripped her apparently) but the crowd is all too eager to accept and offer support. Rossen takes it in stride as he plows through more favorites as well as some new material containing heavily looped vocal layers and haunting melodies. He even throws in an oldie, “40 Dollar Rourke” which the crowd either loves or thinks they should love, cause the kids go freakin’ wild for it. Fair enough. I didn’t know it offhand, but I’m man enough to admit it.
This is, however, one of the first shows I’ve seen in a while with such a popular act, or such a hyped one at least. This thing was everywhere, blogs, the papers, all over. Sold out. Waaay Out. Usually, this is bad news. Last time this happened, I had to stand next to people who had paid two hundred dollars to some scalper for Ben Gibbard, but didn’t know WHO HE WAS!! What?? Who does that?? Why would you pay so much money to ruin the show for me? And why would you talk (RE: Yell) about it when the man is playing!!??!!
I was actually a bit flattered, that someone hated us sad sack indie kids to the extent that they would shell out that kind of cash to completely botch our good time.
Back to the show at hand. The set starts winding down when the Dept busts out with “No One Does it Like You.” Its a personal favorite, one that sticks in my head every time I play it-which is quite a bit. And again, the foggy wonder of the love song clears up significantly on stage. Not in a bad way. Just different. It’s ok. I just love the mist of the original recording.
Right at the end I was starting to wonder when Fred was going to sing one, since as the other official half of the duo he spent the whole time coyly playing along and struggling with gear. But right at the end, they give Fred the guitar and all head off, leaving him alone with the crowd to sing a gin soaked ballad. Quite lovely really. So it was a good show. The encore was one song. A new one. Kind of an odd choice, but hey, these guys can obviously do whatever they want. They earned it. Hats off Dept of Eagles. Solid effort all around. Just what I needed on a Tuesday.
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