[...] I was definitely able to use lyrics as a frame to how I would let the arrangements build and then fall away." Regarding the album's thematic content, Daniel Rossen noted, "There's a lot of talk about negotiating distance from people in your life. We were dealing with that in various forms, learning what it means to be alone, learning what it means to be close to somebody, certain things coming to a head. It just feels like a major difficulty in life." Droste elaborated, "There's a desire to be autonomous, but there's also this great fear of being alone, and there's this constant feeling of, 'How do you reconcile this?' There's this need for space, but there's also this, 'Come closer come closer.'" Artwork and release The album's artwork features paintings throughout by American artist Richard Diebenkorn, with its front cover featuring his 1981 print, Blue Club. Each Diebenkorn piece included features either a spade or club symbol, traditionally found on playing cards. Grizzly Bear revealed that they were working on a new album on May 10, 2011. The release date, track listing and the song "Sleeping Ute" were announced on June 5, 2012, while the title and cover art was announced on July 9, 2012.Snapes, Laura. Grizzly Bear Announce Album Title and Cover Art. Pitchfork Media. July 9, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2012. A second song from the album, "Yet Again", was released on August 2, 2012. On September 9, 2012, Shields was streamed in its entirety on NPR. On September 27, 2012, a music video for "Yet Again" was released. On January 28, 2013, a music video for "gun-shy" was released. Director Kris Moyes described the video for "gun-shy" as "a very rare glimpse of what creative energy could look like on a molecular level, if it could be seen." Shields: Expanded and Shields: B-Sides On September 17, 2013, Grizzly Bear announced reissues of the album, "Shields: Expanded" and "Shields: B-Sides", which were released November 11 (12 in North America) 2013. Alongside the original track list, "Shields: Expanded", available on double CD or as a digital download, included 8 additional songs, including bonus tracks, demos from the recording sessions in Marfa, Texas, and remixes by Lindstrøm, Liars and Nicolas Jaar. The 8 extra tracks were made available separately as "Shields: B-Sides", on either 12" vinyl or digital download. Critical receptionShields received widespread critical acclaim upon its release.