[1] Listener originally started as a solo underground hip hop project of vocalist Dan Smith beginning with the commercial release of the album Whispermoon on Mush Records in 2003.

[5] It was also during this period that Smith invited drummer Andrew Gibbens and guitarist Erik Olsen to join him on tour, thus starting the transition away from traditional hip-hop performances toward a live band format.

After finding out that Nelson played drums, Smith asked him to join the group in June 2007 and the band released the album Return to Struggleville.

Later that year after being introduced to the band The Chariot, Smith was asked to collaborate on the song "David De La Hoz" on the album Long Live,[8] which released in November 2010.

Listener has since released two LPs: 2013's Time Is a Machine and a concept album in 2018 exploring the lives of famed inventors like Nikola Tesla and Robert Oppenheimer entitled Being Empty : Being Filled.