In 2005, he co-wrote and co-produced much of Phrase's debut album "Talk with Force", also lending vocals to three tracks including the single "Catch Phrase". In March 2006, "Undercover News" reported that Merriweather was recording his debut album, "The Fifth Season", with Ronson producing. However, in August 2011, Merriweather recalled: "It was 12 songs out of a whole bunch of songs that I'd written. I came up with the idea of calling it "The Fifth Season" and someone put it on Wikipedia. But it wasn't really an album – it was just a collection of songs. There's a difference".