Reed Hays first used the Buchla Electric Music Box after hiding in an empty harp case in the basement of Oberlin College and sneaking into the electronic music lab after hours. Caroline Schutz, an art major, became an accomplished singer and musician in her post-Oberlin days with her bands Folksongs for the Afterlife and The Inner Banks.

By sheer chance, Reed and Caroline’s first synthesizer and vocal collaboration became the score for a number of L’Oreal hair color commercials.

After a mutual friend played him a Reed and Caroline recording that featured only Buchla and singing, Vince Clarke commissioned the duo to prepare an entire album for his VeryRecords label.