Songwriter and audio engineer Ezra Tenenbaum had been casually working on solo home recordings on his Tascam 8-Track in the vein of Shoes, Emitt Rhodes and Cleaners From Venus, and, in a desire to round out the songs, he enlisted bassist Shane O’Connell and drummer Michael Stasiak (formerly of Widowspeak). As it happened, the trio’s first chance to play together was an audition for the American touring version of Spiritualized (they didn’t get the job).