Much of How You Look When Youre Falling Down inspiration came from Kinsellas move from Illinois to NYC, which pushed him out of his Midwestern comfort zone in every imaginable way. He discovered an electrical charge in the sudden anonymity he found in his new home, especially after spending so much time in the Chicago music scene, where the Kinsella name is a big deal and hes still better known for playing with his cousin Mike in American Football and Owen and his cousin Tim in Joan of Arc and Make Believe. Kinsella began creating How You Look When Youre Falling Down by setting up a drum kit at a friends carpentry shop and improvising beats at randomly selected BPMs. Over the next two years, he and producer Jason Cupp (who also worked on Birthmarks previous album Antibodies) fleshed out the records eight tracks with horn arrangements by members of the iconic New York Afrobeat group Antibalas and TV On the Radios touring band, strings by the acclaimed contemporary classical Mivos Quartet, and harp by the up-and-coming Brandee Younger.