CousteauX is the reunited version of the European pop band Cousteau, who split in 2006; singer Liam McKahey and songwriter Davey Ray Moor, its primary creative team, are its sole surviving members. The "X" is silent so the name is pronounced the same, and it signifies two things: It marks the decade they were apart, and additionally it means "a kiss ... and a scar." Moor explained the reunion's purpose in the band's press pack: "Ten years apart led us to appreciate the synergy we have. Sometimes musicians find a unique match in one another. We're one singer/songwriter in the bodies of two people. Because Cousteau were pre-aged and kind of timeless, the music still sounds today as it did yesterday. We've only become stranger and stronger now that we're older."

Pre-release video singles include "BURMA" (Be Upstairs My Angel) and "The Innermost Light," co-written by Moor and the Libertines' Carl Barât. The album was issued by their own Silentx Records in the fall of 2017, with European and American tours following. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi