The Tangent began in 2002 as a project to record some compositions of the band's primary writer, Andy Tillison, with several members of The Flower Kings (Roine Stolt, Zoltan Csörsz, and Jonas Reingold), David Jackson and some of Andy's friends (Sam Baine, Guy Manning). During that first recording (which was going to become The music that died alone), many of the musicians never met in person. After some critical acclaim, another album was recorded (The world that we drive through).