In April 2010 Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton, and Guy Evans met up for intensive tracking sessions in Cornwall, arranging, rehearsing, and recording the album in a week. Some of the pieces were already fully-formed songs; others, even at this stage, remained more sketches than fully realized works.

Over the next months, the tracks were overdubbed, edited, and adapted by the band in their own studios. By September, the project was ready to be mixed. Legendary producer Hugh Padgham agreed to take on this part of the process - the first time anyone outside the band had been entrusted such responsibility.