The group, which heads to Europe for a string of summer performances next month, will return to Europe following the North American outing for a second run of shows, including an Oct. 31 appearance in London backed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The band's full overseas schedule can be found at Grizzly Bear's website.

Grizzly Bear began recording "Veckatimest," its third studio album and the follow-up to 2006's "Yellow House," early last summer at Allaire Studios in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains.

"I had said in previous interviews a 'sunnier' record [was coming], but that's not necessarily true--it's just got a few poppier songs, a few darker songs, a few stripped-down tracks, and a few really orchestrated lush ones. More dynamics, essentially," songwriter/guitarist Ed Droste told music website Drownedinsound.com last year. "I'm really excited about the material, needless to say."

The band's other chief songwriter and guitarist, Daniel Rossen, released his second album, "In Ear Park," last fall as a member of the duo Department of Eagles with his friend and former New York University roommate Fred Nicolaus.