A fourth Fleet Foxes album was first mentioned in December 2016 by frontman Robin Pecknold, three months before the announcement of their third studio album Crack-Up (2017). Pecknold claimed that Fleet Foxes was contractually obligated to release another album "within 24 months" of their third album. However, Pecknold clarified that a fourth album had not been written yet and that he was in the process of writing a solo album. Days before the release of Crack-Up, Pecknold teased a fourth album titled Gioia. Crack-Up was released by Nonesuch Records on June 16, 2017. Around the same time, Pecknold stated that he wanted the band's fourth album to have a "joyous" and "ecstatic" sound. He described Crack-Up as beginning in "pure conflicted solitude" and ending in a "bright clearing", and said he wanted their next album to be a "celebration of or elaboration on how Crack-Up ends."
