In June 2008, McCartney's official website announced that a track called "Lifelong Passion (Sail Away)", from the album Electric Arguments, would be issued as a limited-edition download to fans who donated to the charity Adopt-A-Minefield.

In early 1993, Paul McCartney had finished recording the tracks for his ninth solo studio album Off the Ground and was in the process of mixing the songs.

[5] Soon after, McCartney phoned Youth about the prospects of him mixing the album, and subsequently invited him to his private Hog Hill studio in Sussex.

They both felt that their musical relationship could be expanded upon further than merely focusing on McCartney's solo work, so the two began compiling material which would ultimately become Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest.

McCartney proposed to Youth that he go through the multi tracks of the recently completed Off the Ground album and sample the material in order to create some songs.

Youth began making the tracks with intentions of using samples from the album, yet much of the final product had either used previous work or newly recorded material by McCartney.

The final product consisted of nine songs that all centered around a common musical theme and techno dance beat yet had slight underlying variations added, much like different mixes on a 12-inch single.

[8] Shortly before the release, the true identities of the band were leaked to the press and most who bought the album were fully aware that the Fireman was a pseudonym for Paul McCartney and Youth.

[6] This was their first album to feature any vocals because both Youth and McCartney felt that their material needed a change; thus the genre of the band evolved from its more electronic roots to an experimental rock influence.

[7] Like their previous two albums however, McCartney played all of the instruments while Youth co-produced the tracks.The duo borrowed the title Electric Arguments from the poem "Kansas City to St. Louis" by Allen Ginsberg.

The Fireman began as an ambient techno group but over three albums it has morphed into an experimental rock band more reminiscent of McCartney's solo work.