Former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye spent two decades making his debut solo album, End Of Innocence, after the 9/11 attacks unexpectedly reignited his creative drive. Kaye, who had never felt compelled to write his own material despite a long career alongside artists including David Bowie, said watching the events unfold on television in Los Angeles sent him straight to his garage to dig out a keyboard he had not touched in years. The album's slow gestation and eventual release illustrate how a single, unplanned burst of inspiration can outlast decades of uncertainty and technical setbacks.

Kaye began composing on an eight-track cassette recorder before transferring the material to modern recording software, losing some multitracks in the process and having to salvage original recordings. He met his future wife, singer-songwriter Dani Torchia, two weeks after 9/11; she contributed the track Sweetest Dreams, about first responders. Kaye worked on the album in batches without a record deal or deadline until reconnecting with his former Yes bandmates at Cruise To The Edge in 2019, after which their management signed him to label Spirit Of Unicorn and pushed him to finish it in time for the attacks' 20th anniversary, with pandemic lockdown giving him the focused time to complete it.