which was followed by several months without communication. During this period, Bauermeister attended a show at CBGB, and started a conversation with an attendee. The person was disappointed that Jawbreaker had broken up, which was the first that Bauermeister had heard of this news, and the first time since their tour that he had thought of the band in general. In December 1990, Bauermeister completed his bachelor's degree, with Schwarzenbach getting his some months afterwards. After coaxing from their friends, Bauermeister and Schwarzenbach reconnected and decided to work on the band again. With education finished, the trio relocated to the Mission District of San Francisco, California in mid-1991 to write new material. Following this, they played 25 shows in local areas alongside Fugazi and Green Day. Between June and September 1991, the band wrote the majority of the tracks that would end up on their next album. They practiced several times a week at a rehearsal space in Tenderloin, San Francisco, leading up to recording sessions in October 1991. They recorded at Razor's Edge in San Francisco, California; they picked the studio as they were aware of other acts that had recorded there. The basic tracks of drums, bass and guitar were recorded in a three-or-four day period. Producer Jonathan Burnside was involved in these early sessions for only a day until he left the project, leaving it mainly to producer and engineer Billy Anderson. Anderson was previously an acquaintance and a fan of the band, knowing the members from the San Francisco scene. Though Mike Morasky is credited as an producer, Anderson said he took on an engineering role. After a week's break, overdubbing commenced over two-or-three days. Anderson estimated that the sessions had cost the band under $5,000. They mixed the majority of the songs in the midst of the Oakland Hills fire, which they were unaware of until late in the day. "Ache" was recorded during the sessions, but was ultimately left unmixed when the track listing was being finalized. Composition and lyrics Overview Musically, the sound of Bivouac has been described as emo, punk rock, and pop-punk, with elements of the work of Helmet, Naked Raygun and early Smashing Pumpkins. In his 33 1/3 book 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (2018) on the band, Ronen Givony said it was "slower, heavier, and gloomier in every way" compared to Unfun. He explained that Bivouac was a "set of