The latest single to emerge from the upcoming collection of unreleased material, Archives 2003-2006, sings sweetly with a voice like “Dory,” Grizzly Bear’s jewel which appeared on the outrageously good Veckatimest. But, where “Dory” is colored in obscurely and boldly, subtle and quiet at first, but a monster emerging from the void at the very quiet, “While We Were Young” is a force from the very beginning. No watery deep; from the very beginning of the song, it’s a force.
As with every Department of Eagles song, this song tends to showcase guitar aficionado Daniel Rossen. Rossen opens the song with an expertly-delivered guitar line that literally soars. The opening sequence becomes a motif for the rest of the song to follow. The motif is frenetic, the pace is lightning. The song moves boldly through a vignette of narrator conflicts and regrets submitting himself to cooperation: “If we’re gonna do this/we gotta do it now/while we’re young.”
One thing I’ve always love about the Department of Eagles is how delicate Rossen sounds singing. Much in the way St. Vincent capitalizes on the paradoxical union of Annie Clark’s shy voice and searing guitar lines, Rossen’s voice challenges the listener to believe there is any force lacking by the mere conviction by which he delivers the lines—and, the guitar definitely has teeth. After the second time the verse is delivered, the song comes back down with the electric line being translated into an acoustic guitar verse that takes one into a subtle darkness like the woods at night (or maybe a Ear Park at night). Rossen returns with full-force backed by Fred Nicolaus.
Like In Ear Park, the producer behind the wheel on this track is Chris Taylor, another member of Grizzly Bear who turned more than a few heads as the producer of The Morning Bender’s Big Echo. Chu of The Morning Benders said that they chose Taylor to produce their album because he had a grasp of the wall-of-sound sonic landscape they were trying to produce. Things are no different here; Taylor sculpts drums into booming claps, guitars into sky-spanning sound that comfortably occupy the entire space of the song without becoming cumbersome.
The song comes back with full force, the pace marked by the same explosive, percussive power. All the while, Rossen and Nicolaus ask accusatorily, “What are you trying to prove?” as the song breaks down, showing its skeleton. A beating drums attends the end and emptiness greets last of the full fleeting flying.
