After more than two decades playing bass with North Carolina indie stalwarts the Mountain Goats, Peter Peter Hughes stepped away in 2024 to devote more time to attending niche motorsports events and tracking the decline of US empire through his own songs. In early 2025 he traveled to Australia for the legendary Bathurst 12 Hour sports car race and, while there, recorded an album with his favorite band of the previous ten years, Melbourne’s Pop Filter (né The Ocean Party). The result was Half-Staff Blues, released later that year and newly available in vinyl LP form.