Four80East began as a studio project when DeBoer and Grace, who had been writing, arranging and producing for other artists on their Boomtang Records label, put together material of their own and released it as The Album, in 1997.
Four80East began its existence as an internal creative venture by DeBoer and Grace, who were previously working with other musicians on their Boomtang Records imprint. They then created their own music and published it under the title The Album in 1997.