Daniel Rossen – You Belong There Review

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Waiting a decade between the release of his first EP and his first album, Daniel Rossen does not appear to be in much of a rush. His experience with Grizzly Bear, a band that charted four studio albums in their time together, appears to have given Rossen time to consider what his debut should become. Solo works are a tricky minefield to navigate, and You Belong There is thrown right into that dangerous field. What an exceptional musician. Raw talent thrown at a record, long-awaited by those that have followed the solo outpourings of Rossen and his gift for acoustic-led tracks. The wait is over, but even then, the seconds of silence that open It’s A Passage are a reminder of just how patient his listeners have been.

You Belong There takes the gamble of enduring through the growing expectations of an artist marking their solo debut and rises through with ease. It’s A Passage is an acoustic masterclass that flows smoothly and delicately, crashing through with a scattershot array of gifted plucking and tremendous vocal stylings. Pairing acoustic warmth, the intimacy of a spectacle, with that of string sections and grandiose musings marks You Belong There as a wholesome powerhouse of the chamber folk genre. Tonally similar second track Shadow in the Frame may be, the explosion of tempo, the intricacies of the acoustics, they are as impressive as they are jealousy-inducing. Rossen powers through with a setlist of tracks that showcase a long-term refinement.

Pairing You Belong There’s title track and Unpeopled Space is a crash course of clear and thorough melody brilliance. Acoustic charms bolstered further and further by the drumming of Christopher Bear. They do well to highlight the “toil without complaint” that Rossen focuses on. Workmanship in solitude brings out an intimacy of creativity, the shared experience found on You Belong There is as intense as it is caringly provocative. Tangle features drumming equivalent to a military march, the regimented structures it brings and the out-of-pace piano strokes as garish as they are gorgeous. Essential atmospherics are constructed throughout the lengthy double bill of I’ll Wait for Your Visit and Keeper and Kin. They present the unique authority that Rossen produces with great intensity throughout this piece.

Walks across islands and regaining the strength of a past experience, the sudden pangs of self-doubt and intensity found throughout You Belong There is a familiarity for those that have experienced it. Rossen provides a unique turn of momentum, one that could easily be used as a projection for people that lack fundamental personality traits. You Belong There will do a lot of heavy lifting. Penultimate track The Last One is a considered approach to the well-served acoustic charms of Rossen’s ten tracks here. They are each as consistent, engaged and beautiful as the last. For those that need a stripped-back, stringed-out piece with a broad stroke of instrumentals, Rossen has it covered. He marks a natural blend of brass, string and acoustic, and in doing so marks his debut as a piece worth clinging to and hoping for more of.