Al Nardo and Bailey Wollowitz collided in 2017 at the since-shuttered house venue Heck, in Bushwick. Immediately bonding over the The Flaming Lips and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the two have intermittently lived and worked together since, in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, but mostly on the road in-between, as shifting parts of pirate crews traversing the country and playing in bands Sloppy Jane, Water From Your Eyes, This is Lorelei, among many more.

the fantasy of a broken heart began on these journeys, in moments stolen while wedged up between roommates and band members in overstuffed apartments and the cramped backseats of cars. The creative outlet of two working musicians, fantasy was first just Al and Bailey writing songs, using music to track the vicissitudes of their lives and relationships—with each other and the sprawling ecosystem of musicians of which they’re a part.

When the world sputtered to a halt in 2020, the whirlwind stopped. The pair deposited themselves in Al’s native Los Angeles, taking the opportunity to hunker down with their twinned sound and commit to fantasy as a fully-fledged band. They looked back on the time they had put into their careers and each other, harnessing their powers to confront the ambiguity of the transitional and draw coherence from a myriad of perspectives.