The Color Morale made five albums between 2009's We All Have Demons and 2016's Desolate Divine, the last two for Fearless Records, with Garret Rapp out front. In January 2018 Rapp announced the band was taking a break. The break lasted longer than anyone expected. Their first show back was in June 2023 at So What Music Festival, after more than six years away, with fans asking about a tenth-anniversary run for Know Hope, which chorus.fm called the band's biggest album.
Coming back didn't mean full-time touring. At a January 2024 show at the WC Social Club in West Chicago, their first in the home area in seven years, they played a fourteen-song set that Rocked called their longest yet, and Rapp told the crowd new music was being recorded. He also said every member now has a life outside the band, which explains why shows are rare: drummer Steve Carey was playing in Senses Fail at the time, and guitarist Devin King was touring with Wage War.