Christian, David, and Laurence, all former members of Levitation, formed Dark Star in 1998 and signed to the now defunct Harvest Records, the progressive rock subsidiary of EMI. Dark Star released several EPs and a debut album Twenty Twenty Sound produced by Steve Lillywhite.
Their explosive live performances, usually with a stage decorated with
fairy lights, attracted a dedicated following. The band's common
musical influence was Public Image Limited. In 2000, the band had two top 40 singles with re-releases of "Graceadelica" and "I Am The Sun", both from their debut album.

Following the touring and promotion of Twenty Twenty Sound, the band entered the studio to record the follow up. Strangers And Madmen was mooted as the lead off single and received its first play on The Evening Session, hosted by Steve Lamacq.
Due to a change in personnel at EMI and a general lack of interest from
the label in the new material, it was agreed the two parties would
part. The band split in 2001 with no official announcement, to pursue
different projects. They were unable to release the already recorded
second album as the rights to the music belonged to EMI. A bootleg of
pre-master mixes of this album is now in circulation, entitled Zurich - it is not known where the title actually came from or whether it was the albums intended title.