A Winged Victory for the Sullen was born from a chance encounter between Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid, etc.) and Dustin O’Halloran (Dévics). They were introduced, in 2007, by their mutual friend, Francesco Donadello, during what would become Sparklehorse’s final European tour. Backstage, they developed an instant rapport and subsequently, across the Continent (Belgium, Germany, Italy), formed a collaborative friendship. In the meantime, both artists continued working on other projects: alone, 2011 has delivered both O’Halloran’s Lumière and sleepingdog’s With Our Head in the Clouds and Our Hearts in the Field, the second collaborative effort between Chantal Acda and Wiltzie. However, A Winged Victory for the Sullen fell into a singular focus, rising from long conversations, a series of sketches, and shared visions, and conformed to the weight of death and two dissolving marriages. (“It was a heavy time for us both.”) Additionally, they invited the prolific multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick and the Icelandic cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir to perform on the album. Together, they created A Winged Victory for the Sullen. “[We] wanted to name it something with sort of a grand feeling.” They patched together, in part, a name from the ruined remains of an antiquated victory and claimed it as their own.