[5] After opening for Yeasayer at New York City's Governors Island in summer 2010 and a residency at Brooklyn club Union Pool, the band attracted media and record label attention.

That year, Delicate Steve signed to Luaka Bop, who released the "Butterfly[6]" single, backed with a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" on the B-side.

The bio was originally published anonymously and was mostly taken as fact by fans and press, but was exposed in a feature news story on NPR's All Things Considered.

The album is marked by an exploration of experimental elements and guitar tones inspired in part by Kanye West’s vocals on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, particularly the use of distorted and Auto-Tuned room mics.

[18] As a guitarist, Marion has performed live on stage with Mac DeMarco, Kimbra, Built to Spill,[19] Yeasayer, Dirty Projectors, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, Dr. Dog,[20] Tune-Yards, Kyp Malone, Khaira Arby,[21] Akron/Family, Ra Ra Riot, Fang Island, Sondre Lerche, Nicole Atkins and Seltzer Boys (a supergroup consisting of Yeasayer and Suckers members).

[25] Uproxx critic Steven Hyden wrote, "With Marion’s understated but assertive guitar acting as the album's focal point, Freedom recalls the arena-ready, widescreen sweep of U2 or the Verve".