In August 1998, after submitting his demos to several record companies and managers Jay met Martyn Watson. Watson had been in several bands in the past including Pookah Makes Three and Twelfth Night, and was currently half of the ambient electronic duo International Peoples Gang (IPG) with Ric Peet as well as working as an A&R agent. Watson stated that "the demo was easily the most original thing that had landed on my desk. I called him, expecting him to be thirty five because it sounded so mature. When I found out he was nineteen, a light went on in my head". He then moved to Nottingham where Watson was based, initially recording material by himself, and signed to EMI subsidiary Food Records a year later.