Golden Bloom has always been known for their sharp melodies, vivid guitar work, and intelligent, energetic songwriting; pop music that wasn’t afraid to ask listeners to think, as well as dance. Shawn Fogel launched Golden Bloom as a solo project, playing all of the instruments himself on 2009’s debut full length Fan the Flames, and 2011’s March to the Drums EP.

A cast of multi-instrumentalists joined Golden Bloom on tour, and in the process, they started becoming a band. “At first, I tried to have everyone recreate the sound of the records,” Fogel says. He soon saw that letting everyone bring their own sensibility to the songs made things more interesting. The live arrangements reshaped the songs, moving them away from the album versions. “I realized we’d be a better band if we applied the live band vibe to the writing, arranging, and recording.”

In June of 2012, Golden Bloom live band members Jeff Patlingrao and Josh Cohen travelled to Shawn’s longtime vacation destination of Southwest Harbor, ME where they holed up in a cabin in the woods to work on a new batch of songs. Joined by newly added drummer Justin Hofmann, the quartet retreated to Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT, a facility run by Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Frightened Rabbit). They produced the sessions themselves with the help of engineer Greg Giorgio. “Many of the songs were arranged collaboratively in the studio,” Fogel says. “The spontaneous energy we generated carried over to the music.”