Liu has recorded and produced music for many bands, including Five Iron Frenzy, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Echoing Green, The W's and Yellow Second.
Masaki is also a musician, playing strings and guitars on several albums.
Promise contained some lyrics, written by Masaki and Jen Hollingsworth.
Musically the album was said to have a simple sound that obscured its hidden layers of complexity, which was attributed to the fact that "Liu is a studio whiz.
"[2] He also played guitar in the band Dime Store Prophets, which released two studio recordings: Love is Against the Grain in 1995 and Fantastic Distraction in 1997.