An early and leading member of the Bay Area post-rock scene, The Union Trade is also the founding band of San Francisco independent music label, Tricycle Records.

The Union Trade's first live performance was an unpublicized show on August 19, 2006, played before a small group of friends and family in the upstairs back room of Edinburgh Castle, a San Francisco pub and music venue.

The band has since shared the stage with notable national and international acts like The Appleseed Cast, The Morning Benders, Neon Trees, Film School, Vetiver, Pela, Figurines, The Pack A.D., Starlight Mints, Dappled Cities, Polysics, Loquat, and LoveLikeFire.

This EP was also the first release on the label which guitarist Don Joslin co-founded with San Francisco music photographer, Julie Schucard.

[11] The San Francisco music blog Kata Rokkar calls Why We Need Night "A moody but gorgeous EP infused with youthful sincerity, it is cinematic in scope with soothing soundscapes of atmospheric, ambient, and shimmering chimes interspersed with crashing interludes...This isn't average post rock that drags and bores the listener, this is tight and well thought out songs that burst with color and expand with repeated listens.

The result of this approach was a, quieter process that involved the founding members Don Joslin, Nate Munger and Eric Salk.

In-studio contributions on the album were made by Tricycle labelmates Nate Blaz on Cello (Geographer) and Ann Yu (Silver Swans) on vocals.