The Lithium Project masterminds Jason Farrall and Kenny Clarke met at the Baseroom Studios in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire in 1996. They began their musical partnership by working on remix projects under various pseudonyms for artists such as Jocelyn Brown and Inner City. During this time they enlisted the help of keyboard player Dove and bass player Rajaneesh Dwiviedi to help record their own material. Quoting influences as wide ranging as Miles Davis, Radiohead and David Axelrod, the Lithium Project’s debut Passo Fundo was originally intended for release on the Clear imprint in 1999. The demise of the label meant only promo copies were available, but such was the reception afforded the material on these promos that the London-based Hydrogen Dukebox quickly snapped up the rights to the album. Released in summer 2001, the jazz and techno tinged Passo Fundo was underpinned by Dwiviedi’s funky basslines and Dove’s impressive keyboard work. Gaining solid underground recognition it took the duo until 2003 to release their second and altogether different offering, Many Worlds Theory. Clarke and Farrall put this delay down to the fact that they lived far apart, and also the need to build a new studio. The change in sound to a blissed-out electronic groove was developed after listening to the emerging talents of bands such as Jazzanova, Zero 7 and Röyksopp at the beginning of the new millennium. The album title originated from a theory developed by physicist Hugh Everett III in 1957 about how the universe operates on a quantum level. The Lithium Project subsequently made live appearances at festivals around Europe, most notably The Big Chill at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire.