Before there was Daniel Rossen, genious songwriter/guitarist/singer of Grizzly Bear, there was Daniel Rossen, NYU student making music in his dorm room with borrowed equipment.  Rossen, with university-assigned roommate Fred Nicolaus, wrote and recorded a number of songs during their stay which later were released under the name Department of Eagles.  Their first record, The Cold Nose, made it around the United States over the past few years but the band has remained elusive; they never really performed and Nicolaus went off to work a normal job.  With the momentum of Rossen's other projects, it would seem that DOE is said and done, but from the looks of it, college graduation was not the end.

Grizzly Bear took 2008 off to work on their new record and in the meantime, Rossen and Nicolaus have been working on ideas together again.  The former roommates started work last December for a second project, employing resources that have become available through the success of Grizzly Bear.  Where The Cold Nose was scattered and homemade feeling, the identity of the style and fidelity of the recording in the new songs are tight and confident.  The new record, In Ear Park, will be available next Tuesday (10/7) and you can read and hear more at their website.

No One Does It Like You