Grizzly Bear, far and away the most impressive of Warp’s indie-leaning acquisitions, are about to return with their third album. 

Shields is the follow-up to 2009’s pristine Veckatimest, and contains plenty of reliably excellent, HD-quality chamber-pop. The two tracks we’ve already heard – ‘Sleeping Ute’ and ‘Yet Again’ – showed the quartet on alternatively sleepy and strident form, and Shields looks to be an album of delicately calibrated contrasts. As ever, an enormous amount of thought has gone into the production: judiciously arranged and thoroughly well-polished, Shields doesn’t have a hair out of place. Some lovely ambient interludes, too.

Shields is streaming over at NPR; head over here to listen.