There was no 9-to-5, punch-in-the-studio fee. There was this freedom of being able to do what you wanted when inspiration struck. We had this one space that was so big that we could all be sleeping and no one would notice. We move into the space and there's something really great about being able to creep out in the middle of the night and just shred on guitar. When push comes to shove, actually, I think we just prefer, like you said, a comfortable environment in which we can sort of live.

Another element is that our recording budget is pretty small and a lot of studios are really expensive. Is that important to you?Р”В®D: We've become accustomed to Chris Taylor recording and producing the albums, and he has his own mobile rig, so that's one element. Pitchfork: Grizzly Bear have a history of eschewing studios for more personal, comfortable spaces. It makes you look at something and be like, 'Ooh, I don't like this song,' or 'Wait, I do like this song, but we need to change this.' So we were able to weed through things and decide what actually stood up to our test of time, which is obviously not 10 years, but at least jumping in the studio and immediately recording everything in two weeks and being like, 'It's done!' There's something about stepping away from the material for a month or so and then coming back and re-addressing it that gives you such a fresh perspective. We would step away from the material for weeks at a time, and either go on tour, like last August, as I mentioned, or just take a break. One really nice thing about this album was that we took a lot of time on it. Pitchfork: It works the other way then sometimes?Р”В®D: On some tracks. 'Two Weeks' would be a really good example of that- the song was done, but it wasn't until we had played it a bunch on the Radiohead tour that we figured out how we wanted it to be. It's always really fun to have different versions, and sometimes we discover the essence of the song by playing it live. I mean, 'Cheerleader' is essentially the same chords and everything's the same, but the delivery and energy in the live setting has a more spirited feeling to it. But that's some of the fun of it, because I remember that was also a question with 'Little Brother' and we just sort of re-interpreted it for the live setting.Р”Р‡or us, that actually keeps the material fresh- to be able to have a different version live or have a different energy behind it live.

Often, in the back of our heads, we're wondering if- you know, I remember, making 'Southern Point', I remember as we were finishing the song we were looking at each other like, 'How the hell are we gonna play this live?' It's a big question mark. Obviously, these songs demand some kind of rearrangement to be properly played live- is that something you think about when you're writing and recording?Р”В®D: I think when we're recording we're really just focused on making a song that we really like. So, the band has a reputation for being a revelatory live act. I don't think anyone, even internally at the label, expected that. Pitchfork: Number 8! Did you see that coming?Р”В®D: We didn't see it coming at all. New York was a lot of fun, and we found out today about the Billboard thing, which we're all really excited about. Pitchfork spoke with guitarist/vocalist Ed Droste- a Massachusetts native- a few hours before the band's Boston show.Р”В®D: The tour is going really great. Weeks before Veckatimest- Grizzly Bear's third LP- was properly released, besotted critics and fans were already declaring allegiance: arguably the band's most affable and ecstatic effort to date, Veckatimest (named after an uninhabited island off the New England coast) is an odd and thrilling collection of tracks.

Grizzly bear has it leaked