Downes Braide Association aka DBA originally started as a collaborative studio project in 2012 between Christopher Braide a Brit working in the USA writing and producing music for film scores, advertising campaigns and with a host of rock and pop artists (Sia, Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Paloma Faith, Britney Spears, Marc Almond) and keyboardist Geoffrey Downes of YES, Buggles and Asia fame. Eight years later and the duo had three albums under their belt while tentative forays into live performance in 2018 (resulting in a live record) and again in 2020 had proved successful. After the live shows in early 2020, Braide found himself in a bit of a funk when Marc Almond called and suggested he look at the possibility of a new DBA record to get the creative juices flowing. Braide delved into some musical ideas from Downes and inspiration struck immediately. Compositional ideas and snatches of melody quickly began to take shape and resulted is Halcyon Hymns, a record that perfectly captures feelings and memories of a time and a place when everything seemed so much simpler.