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 journey as an internal creative initiative by DeBoer and Grace, who were previously working with other musicians on their Boomtang Records label. As a result, they developed their own music, which was eventually published under the title The Album in 1997.