When The Dirty Nil first convened in Toronto's Union Studios to record the follow-up to their 2018 Juno Award-nominated crusher, Master Volume, the coronavirus had just begun it's North American tour and talk of border closures started creeping into the headlines. Suddenly, what was supposed to be a leisurely recording process became a tense, do-or-die mission, as producer John Goodmanson was forced to hightail it back home to Seattle. Left with the decision of whether or not to continue the record, the band opted to finish remotely by sending things back and forth rather than pressing pause.