Andrew Veeder on September 26th, 2017

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Not far into Grizzly Bear’s show at the Zebulon Café on Sunday night, when the band played the tentative opening notes to the song “Cut-out,” someone in the crowd shouted “Woot!” Singer Ed Droste responded by saying, “This is a new song,” to which someone in the back yelled, “Oh, we know!”

That giddiness was shared among many in the sold-out, 300-capacity venue, the first of two intimate L.A. shows this week in support of their “Painted Ruins,” Grizzly Bear’s first album in almost five years. The band decamps to the new 250-capacity Moroccan Lounge on Wednesday before embarking on a fall tour that winds up at the Wiltern on Dec. 13 and 14.

At Zebulon, Grizzly Bear wasted no time by launching into dynamic back-to-back tracks from the new album, “Four Cypresses” and “Losing All Sense.”

Nearly two-thirds of the new record made its Los Angeles live debut over the next hour and 45 minutes, and it was a treat. “Mourning Sound” soared above its percussive groove as Droste and Daniel Rossen traded off vocals, while “Glass Hillside” began delicately before surging in sound. The four-piece was bolstered by a fifth member, deepening the texture of their already nuanced material, especially during new cut “Three Rings” and 2006’s “On A Neck, On A Spit.”

The most stunning aspect of Grizzly Bear’s live show is the two- to four-part harmonies that Droste, Rossen, Chris Taylor and Christopher Bear employ on almost every song. The devastating “Foreground” from their 2009 album “Veckatimest” was a standout later in the set, gorgeously built over a sparse piano melody as their vocals teamed throughout to beautifully punch you in the heart. Fan favorite “Two Weeks” was another highlight, a melancholic number about the dissolution of a relationship whose upbeat melody couldn’t help but make you smile.

They finished the main set’s obligatory “this is our last song” fake-out with “While You Wait for the Others” and moments later returned for a pair of songs. The encore began with “Shift,” noted as the oldest song in their catalog from their 2004 debut “Horns of Plenty,” and culminated with the obvious choice of “Sun In Your Eyes,” a seven-minute, ever-morphing journey with dramatic ebbs and flows that ranged from subdued to exuberant. In a way, it’s the quintessential Grizzly Bear song in that it showcased the full power and range of what their music can offer, and drove home that five albums into their career, they are at the top of their game.