The band was formed by Brett Wickens shortly after he left the Spoons. The first incarnation of the duo was called "The Jovial Foresters." This group made one live performance, and produced a few unreleased songs in a prog-rock style. Wickens then decided to record a proper album of his own minimalist/techno material, and recruited Humphreys to compose short "bridge" instrumentals between his longer tracks. The resulting album, entitled "The Absence of a Canary," was pressed in the quantity of 1000.