Daniel Rossen performs with Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles, and as a solo artist. Daniel was born in Los Angeles, California and began making music in earnest in 2000, when he became a roommate of Fred Nicolaus at New York University during their freshman year.

The duo began writing and recording as Whitey on the Moon UK, ultimatley changing their name to Department of Eagles a few years and EPs later. Daniel joined Grizzly Bear in 2005, shortly after the Horn of Plenty was released.

Meanwhile, in 2005, a collection of Department of Eagles' early works, The Cold Nose, was issued by the U.K. label Melodic (it arrived in the U.S. with bonus tracks two years later).In 2006, Grizzly Bear released their breakthrough album, Yellow House.

During that time, Rossen and Nicolaus continued to work on tracks, gathering enough material for an album by late 2007. Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor and Christopher Bear, as well as bassist Nat Baldwin, joined the duo for the sessions, which were completed in the spring of 2008; the resulting album, In Ear Park, was inspired by Rossen's late father and released by 4AD that fall.

Grizzly Bear's ambitious third album, Veckatimest, was released in 2009. In 2010, the Department of Eagles collection, Archive 2003-2006–which included tracks from their aborted sophomore album and pieces that were later used by Grizzly Bear–arrived.

After touring with Grizzly Bear subsided, Rossen quietly began work on a set of songs intended for a new album which he ended up recording largely by himself. The result was the Silent Hour/Golden Mile EP, which Warp Records released in 2012 a few months before the release of Grizzly Bear's latest LP, Shields.