Matt moves to Brooklyn, New York in pursuit of a career in financial journalism. Garrett informs the band that he and longtime girlfriend Jen Kelly will be getting married and moving to South Bend, Indiana where Jen will be enrolling in graduate school at Notre Dame. Peyton is asked to join The Pernice Brothers in the wake of the demise of the Scud Mountain Boys. Sensing the band may be too overwhelmed to nurture their own career, Jim McGarry offers to release their new material on his label Rainbow Quartz.
With a roster of predominantly British jangle-pop bands, Rainbow Quartz was originally conceived as a vehicle for helping UK artists get exposure in the US. Jim decides to apply this conversely and prepares for a UK-only release of SINGULAR, NO ARTICLE. Leery of contracts, the deal is agreed upon by both parties with a handshake.
The band returns to Slaughterhouse in December to track a few more songs and add a string ensemble to some earlier tracks. The songs are mixed and SINGULAR, NO ARTICLE is completed on the eve of the winter solstice.