music critics. Its United States release came nearly a year after its initial UK release, causing the band to pause plans for their next album and to tour Nu-Clear Sounds in the US instead. The A&R person at their American label DreamWorks Records left his position and the band's US tour was shortened to three shows. Frontman Tim Wheeler fell into a state of depression, which lasted for 18 months. He yearned to return to the pop writing style to the band's debut studio album 1977 (1996) for their next album because he felt they had not leaned towards it enough with Nu-Clear Sounds. To avoid writer's block, which had plagued the production of Nu-Clear Sounds, Wheeler moved back to his parents' house in Northern Ireland. He got into the practice of writing a song each day, saying the constant writing freed him from the pressure of needing every song he wrote to be "a 'great' song or a hit". Wheeler was listening to The Beach Boys, Weezer, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, and Bob Dylan, and wrote for around six months. By January 2000, drummer Rick McMurray said the band had 14 new songs. Hatherley said Wheeler wrote more completed songs, though some were co-written with bassist Mark Hamilton, in contrast to some songs on Nu-Clear Sounds which were worked on in the studio. At the end of that month, Ash played three new songs during a special show for the NME; two months later, the band debuted almost 20 new tracks, included two on which Hatherley sang lead vocals. The band appeared at The Lost Weekend festival in July and began rehearsal sessions in the following months. Production Ash met up and rehearsed material from a selection of 50 songs at Fortress Studios in London. The band had spent most of the money they earned from 1977 on a documentary and were £1,000 away from bankruptcy. They had demoed 30 tracks; their label Infectious Records did not support the band's song choices and considered "Shining Light" would not be a hit. Recording sessions were held at El Cortijo in Puerto Banús, Spain, before moving to The Wool Hall in Beckington, and RAK Studios in London; the band self-funded the sessions, which were done entirely using Pro Tools software, in contrast to Nu-Clear Sounds, which was recorded using both Pro Tools and tape. According to Wheeler, some of the recorded