Rift was recorded in September and October 1992 at White Crow Studios in Burlington, Vermont on 24-track 2" tape by Engineer Kevin Halpin assisted by Jon Altschiller. Rift introduced a cohesive set of complex compositions sequenced to deliver the narrative and imagery of a fractured romance.
Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall wrote eleven songs on Rift, Mike Gordon contributed two more - "Mound" and "Weigh", and Jon Fishman's "Lengthwise" appeared on the album twice. Almost all the material on Rift was developed live before the album was recorded – much of it debuted in a few big chunks in 1991 and 1992. The title track, created in sections between 1987 to 1992, has more history. The melody grew out of the instrumental "With" section of The Curtain With, which was performed live from Summer 1987 to Summer 1988. The nascent lyrics were incorporated almost two years later in 1990 and "Rift" was played basically in its entirety a half dozen times that year. "Rift" was then shelved and re-introduced in 1992 (as heard on the album) with a faster tempo and slightly reworked lyrics. The cover art was created from an oil on canvas painting by David Welker, who worked with the band during winter 1992 to depict all but one of the album's tracks on the cover.
Rift was mastered by Bob Ludwig and released by Elektra February 2, 1993 on CD and cassette. The album went on to be certified Gold. In late 2014, Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering cut the lacquers from the Digital Audio Tape flat master for the vinyl edition. Each LP is pressed onto 180g audiophile grade vinyl and includes a free MP3 download of the album transferred from the vinyl.