Ryland Heagy, the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist, and Pat Doherty, its drummer, make up the Washington, D.C.-based Origami Angel.
The two came together in late 2015 when Doherty agreed to join Heagy and a friend’s band, Idle Empire, after they performed at Archie Edwards’ Barbershop in Washington, D.C. Idle Empire eventually burned out, Heagy and Doherty subsequently reformed to form Origami Angel and released their debut EP named Silent Hours on Chatterbot Records. Another EP named Doing The Most was released by the group in 2018 as a follow-up to this one. Gen 3 is a Pokémon-themed EP that the pair released in 2019.
The band’s sophomore double album Gami Gang was announced on March 25, 2021, and the lead single “Neutrogena Spektor” was made available the following day. Gami Gang was released on April 30, 2021, by Counter Intuitive Records, to generally favorable reviews similar to those of Anywhere City. Pitchfork gave Gami Gang a favorable score of 7.3.
Origami Angel unpredictably issued two surprise EPs, re: turn and DEPART, just one and a half years after the release of Gami Gang. Re: Turn was published on September 30, 2022, with the intention of showcasing a more minimal version of the band. Then, on October 3, 2022, four days later, they released DEPART, which was a sharp contrast to their last offering. Re: Turn served as the duo’s inspiration for DEPART as they sought to delve deeper into their signature sound. In an interview with Consequence, Ryland says “we knew we were going to try a couple of songs in a more stripped-back acoustic approach, but also thought it would be great to explore a darker side of this band”.