I composed most of The Spiral Eyes while I was still in college, and completed it over the months after I graduated. It was my first commercial release, but actually the latest on a string of recording experiments I had been doing since high school. The earliest tracks that ultimately found their way onto the album are Cementalisque, Mister Grieves, and More Than You Know, all of which existed as early as 2002.

Influenced by bands like Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, of Montreal, and Neutral Milk Hotel (all in the neo-psychadelic Elephant 6 collective) as much by their recording styles as their music, I made a habit of double-tracking all of my vocals and in most cases hard-panning them left and right.

My primary recording method during this period was to use a looping breakbeat and record acoustic guitar and violin by laying my $100 microphone on a desk and making noise in its general vicinity.