From the release of their debut album End Of Hollywoodbedtime Story in 2000, The Dears' story has been one of burgeoning commercial and critical success. Known for their transcendent live performances, capital-R romanticism, and truly magnificent sprawling orchestrations, The Dears have always seemed a band with a destiny. With each subsequent album, they grew in breadth and depth: building an exuberant fan base, developing their craft, and exceeding expectations. This period of pop-cultural growth and artistic development saw it's culmination in two definitive albums: the thunderously beautiful and lushly evocative No Cities Left in 2004, and the less sonically magniloquent but gorgeously dense and thematically-rich Gang Of Losers in 2006. But by the summer of 2007, The Dears were in crisis. With a need to cast out the demons that had started to gather around the periphery, Murray Lightburn set about writing tracks for a solo album, but four songs into the process, discovered that what he was making was a new Dears record.