The Letterpress was formed with the idea of doing something different, taking then-current Before Braille guitarist Rajiv Patel and placing a bass in his hands, placing him with a former member of Before Braille, Dustin Carson, on drums, and then finishing up the trio was Jeremy Drysdale, of Noah Blake, who would sing and also play bass.

[1] The product of this composition would lead to, what one critic called, "rhythmically beautiful melodies .

"[2] Notwithstanding that critics view of the band's original sound, the Letterpress would draw comparisons to Pinback during most of its activity.

[3] When Rajiv Patel left the band in 2004 to serve a mission in Peru for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), he was replaced by another former member of Before Braille, Braden McCall,[4] and demoed one song with McCall titled Physical Map, which was released on the band's MySpace page.

[4] Although Rajiv Patel had expressed his desire to return the Letterpress following his mission to record more material,[4] it seems that the original iteration would reunite only once more to perform with Before Braille, Fivespeed, The Player Piano, and Novi Split during Sunset Alliance's ten-year anniversary show in January 2010.