The Silence in Black and White is the debut studio album by the American rock band Hawthorne Heights, and their first release after changing their name from A Day in the Life. Background and recording Writing for the album commenced shortly after the band changed their name from A Day In the Life to Hawthorne Heights. The band had sent around 35 separate press kits to several potential record labels, receiving interest from a few of them, including Victory Records. Victory to had sent the band two generic response letters a month apart; drummer Eron Bucciarelli subsequently emailed the label and told them what the band had been doing since the letters' arrival. Founder Tony Brummel contacted them the following day, asking when he could see them in person. Six days after this, they played a showcase for the label, who gave them an offer shortly afterwards. A month after this, all of the members quit their day jobs to focus on the band full-time. They recorded their debut album at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin and at Big Gold Studios in Chicago, Illinois. The sessions were done over 15-hour days across a five-week period. The recordings were mixed at Gravity Studios before the album was mastered by Dominick Maita at Airshow Mastering with Pro Tools engineer Dan Duszynski. Composition and lyrics Musically, the sound of The Silence in Black and White has been described as emo, post-hardcore and screamo. Woodruff said the name of "Life on Standby" referred to being in a touring band, having to "put your entire life on standby to try your hardest". He added that it acted as a valuable introduction to the band as a whole as it has "parts that are both dark and light". Woodruff wrote "Dissolve and Decay" for a friend of his that was having relationship issues, specifically being unfaithful to another friend of his. "Niki FM" was written after Woodruff read various album reviews in preparation for the response to the band's album. He noticed a theme where "every band I liked was getting torn apart" critically. It included a reference to Say Anything... (1989), which was Woodruff's all-time favorite film. "The Transition" was the first song they wrote after changing their name; the title alludes to this change. Part of its lyrics were influenced by Woodruff's girlfriend who had been studying in Europe for three months. The lyrics