Ed Droste sparks Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear began as a moniker for songwriter Ed Droste's music in the early 2000s, and was actually just a nickname for an old boyfriend. But what it's turned into is a four-man band whose sound is dominated by the use of their vocal harmonies.

Droste has been doing his thing quite a while, and actually released Grizzly Bear's debut album "Horn of Plenty" as a solo project featuring contributions from drummer Christopher Bear. Bassist and producer Chris Taylor came next, and guitarist/vocalist Daniel Rossen would round out the group, whose first record as a quartet would be "Yellow House," released on Warp Records in 2006. Lofty expectations for the group quickly followed, as the New York Times ranked the project as one of its albums of the year.

It was summer 2008 when Grizzly Bear got its biggest of breaks, opening for Radiohead on the second leg of their North American tour. It set the stage for even more critical acclaim once the guys released 2009's "Veckatimest," named after a tiny, uninhabited island on Cape Cod. That one, structured as more of a pop record, landed not only on the New York Times list (again), but also made it to No. 1 on the Wall Street Journal's Top Albums list, No. 6 at Pitchfork and No. 8 at Time.

Grizzly Bear's latest album, 2012's "Shields," followed a six-month hiatus from all band activities. It was preceded by the singles "Sleeping Ute" and "Yet Again." An expanded version was re-released two months later and included songs that didn't make the original album, along with demo recordings and re-mixes.