I think that, gun-pointed-to-my-head, I was only allowed to pick one guy to soundtrack my life, I’d go with Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear/Department of Eagles. The guy’s just packed to the brim with crazy guitar chords and head-rattling riffs. It’s all things that should, by all rights, be too confusing to enjoy without serious scrutiny, but he arranges it all as a perfect backing track for some of the best pop music I’ve ever heard. And at SXSW I was finally able to hear him rattle some heads as part of Department of Eagles.

Dan started the night solo on the banjo, working through a quick tune before being joined by Fred Nicolaus, the other half of the songwriting duo, and their backing band. It’s tough not to offer Grizzly Bear as a comparison for DoE’s performance, but it’s only tempting because it’s not too far off. Both bands rely on dynamic composition and performance (helped along in this case by Grizzly Bear drummer Chris Bear) and both have some fantastic harmonies. Only with Department of Eagles, things get a little weirder.

The last song of the night had no doubt the best harmonies — the odd thing was that they were all supplied by Daniel Rossen. He looped his vocals one by one until it sounded like a choir of highly trained clones were holding a microphone just out of view. Then he unveiled a new Department of Eagles song that completely blew me away. The chorus was backed solely by the looped vocals and Dan’s bass-heavy guitar riff, but that was enough to already win me over on the next DoE record. I hate to crack the whip on a man who’s been a part of creating an ‘album of the year’ contender for the past four years, but let’s hope we hear this new record sooner than later.

More photos after the jump