Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	86/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	A−
The Guardian
Mojo
NME	7/10
Pitchfork	9.1/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin	8/10
Uncut	8/10

Shields is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Grizzly Bear, released on September 18, 2012 by Warp Records. Written and recorded following a six-month hiatus from band activities, the album was produced by bassist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor, and preceded by the singles, "Sleeping Ute" and "Yet Again". An expanded version of Shields, entitled Shields Expanded, was released on November 12, 2013. This deluxe edition includes songs that did not make the album's final track listing, demo recordings and remixes. The eight additional tracks were also issued as a separate mini-album, entitled Shields: B-Sides.

Shields has been described as the band's most collaborative album, with vocalist and guitarist Daniel Rossen noting, "[The band's aim was to] write and make music that is as collaborative as possible, so that we have a product that we all feel a sense of authorship over as a collective."

The album received acclaim upon release. Shields reached number seven on the Billboard 200 and number seventeen on the UK Albums Chart.

After extensive touring in support of the band's third studio album, Veckatimest (2009), Grizzly Bear undertook a six-month hiatus from band-related activities. Vocalist Ed Droste noted, "There was such a level of exhaustion that I really needed to pretend I wasn't in the band for a little bit. I needed to be back in my life with my friends and my spouse, and live a day-to-day existence that had nothing to do with music. That was really good for everybody." Vocalist and guitarist Daniel Rossen stated, "Those were strange times. [...] I felt a little bit shell-shocked by the touring experience of Veckatimest and part of me was just wondering if there was some other version of a life that I could have that wasn't as heavily involved in the music industry."

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Wikipedia