The band is composed of drummer Lyle Hysen (Das Damen, Arthur Lee), guitarists John Leon (Roky Erickson, Summer Wardrobe, Abra Moore) and Lynn Wright (And The Wiremen, Bee And Flower, Shilpa Ray), bassist David Motamed (Das Damen, Two Dollar Guitar, Arthur Lee, Townes Van Zandt), and keyboardist Carl Baggaley (Headbrain, Gramercy Arms).

After a year of writing and playing shows, the Royal Arctic Institute recorded their debut album The French Method as a three piece with original bassist Gerard Smith.

The song "Greely's Ghost" is described as "post-rock haze with jazz leanings" by Glide, and the music video mixes images of Leon's family and archival footage from Mobile and Gulf Shores, Alabama.

"[2] Music journalist Jim Testa in The Jersey Journal says the track "exemplifies the group's approach to interactive compositions that shift and evolve through a suite of different melodies and rhythms.

In review of this record, Tim Haugen of Daily Vault writes "I'm not even slightly exaggerating when I say that The Royal Arctic Institute deserves to be spoken in the same sentence as instrumental giants like Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, and Sigur Rós.