The album was recorded in two separate sessions; from December 2010 to February 2011, and in June 2011 at Blast Studios, Newcastle, England.

Produced by Adam Sinclair & Therapy?, the album's title comes from Speak, Memory (1951) a memoir by Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov, who describes life as "A brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness".

[8] It consisted of footage filmed at Belfast's Empire Music Hall on 4 October 2012 by "Giftedlive.com".

Living in the Shadow of the Terrible Thing was debuted at a gig in Cork, Ireland in October 2010 and later played at various European festivals in Summer 2011.

"A Brief Crack of Light" has received almost universal high acclaim in Europe.