The Promise Ring were formed from the aftermath of several Midwest emo groups[1] in February 1995: guitarists Jason Gnewikow and Matt Mangan (both formerly of None Left Standing), and drummer Dan Didier and bassist Scott Beschta (both formerly of Ceilishrine).

[2] The band recorded a three-track demo ("Jupiter", "12 Sweaters Red" and "Mineral Point") in early March,[4] and played their first show shortly afterwards.

[6] The band released a 7" vinyl single ("Watertown Plank" and "Mineral Point") through Foresight Records,[1] which was owned by a friend of theirs.

[7] While on tour, Texas Is the Reason guitarist Norman Brannon was given a copy of the band's demo and 7" single, and gave them to Jade Tree co-founder Tim Own, who was his roommate.

[2][8] Jade Tree's other co-founder Darren Walters initially scoffed at the tape, thinking it was a joke; he later claimed that "[f]or some reason [...] it reminded me of U2."

"[2] Casey Rice had recently returned from touring around Europe with Tortoise, and to him, he felt that he was simply recording a punk rock act.

[17] The attention was aided by the inclusion of the emo staple "A Picture Postcard", which had been released earlier on the Falsetto Keeps Time EP.

"[12] Author Andy Greenwald in his book Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo (2003) wrote that the album was "rough but winning; the only hurdle for prospective listeners is von Bohlen's often off-key warbling".

[25] Gnewikow did not think it was a "very good record", explaining that they had been a band for that long prior to its creation, "we had no business making an album like that then".