What was expressed in the letters instructed Michael after the breakup. For four years, the band's album would be completed in his spare time. "I returned to the slow, didactic methods of ten years ago. Intending to complete the album, I spent thousands of hours using those songs to truly learn how to mix. My production skills in 2002 and 2003 were adequate, but neither satisfying to me nor dignifying to what we five could create together on a stage."