Veckatimest

The recording of Veckatimest began in summer 2008 at Allaire Studios in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Regarding the writing process, Ed Droste states: Nico Muhly collaborated with Grizzly Bear on this album. In the interim, they debuted four new songs: "Two Weeks", "While You Wait for the Others", "Fine for Now" and "Cheerleader". They also performed "While You Wait for the Others" on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien on April 21, 2008, and performed "Two Weeks" on Late Show with David Letterman'' on July 23, 2008. The band performed the track "Two Weeks" Live in the UK on Later... with Jools Holland on 5 May 2009 A deluxe edition of the album was released on November 2, 2009, in Europe. Along with the twelve original tracks, it contained an exclusive 24 page booklet and a bonus disc of Veckatimest tracks recorded in various locations. Although the release was exclusive to Europe, the bonus tracks were released digitally to the US in the iTunes Store. ==Releases==

An unmastered version of the album was leaked before its release. Regarding this, Ed Droste states: ==Packaging==

Artwork The abstract drawing was created by William O'Brien and chosen by Droste, whom he has known since high school. Although the piece was not originally intended to be used as Veckatimest's artwork, O'Brien had been working on it at the same time as Grizzly Bear was working on the record. After contacting O'Brien requesting to use one of his pieces for the new album, Droste received a number of examples to choose from. Initially O'Brien was surprised Droste had chosen that specific piece for the artwork as he felt it had an "awkward placement" to it, but after hearing the album he reconsidered the piece, "it was like this amazing, beautiful thing that happened". ==Reception and legacy==

On release, Veckatimest was greeted with widespread critical acclaim, currently holding a score of 85 at the aggregate critic review site, Metacritic. The album was ranked #42 on their list of the decade's top 200 albums. Rhapsody called it the 8th best album of 2009. Official music videos have been produced for "Two Weeks", "While You Wait for the Others" and "Ready, Able". Veckatimest was also voted Stereogum's second best album of 2009. Veckatimest was well-placed on many "End of the Year" lists, with Rolling Stone placing it at 21st, Spin magazine placing it at 4th and Pitchfork at 6th. Jack Goes Boating and Blue Valentine Many of the album's tracks appear in actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut, Jack Goes Boating (2010), acting as the film's primary score. Hoffman noted: "Susan Jacobs the music supervisor threw Grizzly Bear my way. She was like, 'You should really listen to them!' I heard their album and I was like, 'Definitely!' There was a bunch of music from Grizzly Bear that I used, which fit so nicely." Instrumental tracks from the album also appear in the film Blue Valentine (2010); Grizzly Bear subsequently released a soundtrack album to the film in 2011. ==Track listing==

The following people contributed to Veckatimest: Band • Daniel Rossen – vocals, guitar, keyboards, string arrangements ("I Live With You") • Ed Droste – vocals, guitar, keyboards, omnichord • Chris Taylor – bass guitar, woodwinds, backing vocals • Christopher Bear – drums, backing vocals Additional musicians • Victoria Legrand – backing vocals ("Two Weeks") • Brooklyn Youth Choir – backing vocals ("Cheerleader", "I Live With You", "Foreground") • Acme String Quartet – strings ("Southern Point", "Ready, Able", "I Live With You", "Foreground") • Nico Muhly – choral arrangements ("Cheerleader", "Foreground"), string quartet arrangements ("Southern Point", "Ready, Able", "Foreground") Recording personnel • Chris Taylor – producer, engineer • Gareth Jones – co-mixing engineer • Greg Calbi – mastering • Steve Falone – mastering assistant Artwork • William J. O'Brien – drawings • Ben Wilkerson Tousley – design • Amelia Bauer – hand drawn text ==Charts==