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The seeds of POLYDREAM were planted in May of 1998, when two small-town kids with big ambitions began performing as an acoustic duet in a tiny coffee shop in Medford, WI. As their musical appetites grew, Lucas Etten and Jonathan Knudson formed The Cadavers, a cover band whose repertoire ranged from Del Shannon to Green Day. After a local youth center performance as sophomores in high school, Luke and Jon spoke with drummer Zack Austin and Jason Bloyer about forming a rock group.

The four joined Bloyer’s brother Josh, who played bass, and performed frequently until 2000. After Jason departed, Knudson rose to the occasion and became the lead vocalist (he had already been playing guitar), and the quartet played under the names Fresh Daily, Wafer, and Fill. The four-piece stopped playing later that year, and in 2002, Knudson and Etten graduated from high school. Knudson moved to Glacier National Park in Montana, while Etten and Austin kept in touch with Knudson throughout the summer.

Then, in September Etten and Austin drove to Montana and helped him move back to Madison, WI. Etten gave up the guitar to fill the void of a bass player, and in March of 2003, the three decided on the name POLYDREAM, and began performing in a month later. In December of that year, during a short hiatus, Knudson met promising guitarist Eric LeMieux and the two began writing and rehearsing together. Knudson introduced LeMieux to POLYDREAM, and the four began performing in July of 2004.

At a December performance that year, the four became acquainted with a drummer/producer, Britton Rice. Rice, formerly of Lex Rex, agreed to produce a couple songs for the the band and spent most of 2005 working with POLYDREAM on their debut EP, A Rigid Shard of Balance: 1. During these sessions much of the writing became more piano based, which resulted in Austin moving to piano and guitar much of the time and Britton filling in on drums to move the writing along. Rice, later agreed to join the ranks of the band as their full-time bandmate. The music they were all writing together was a nexus of great energy captured on their first actual debut, "A Rigid Shard of Balance:1".