In 2001, Rainer Maria released its third album and played almost 200 shows. Yet, somehow Kaia Fischer (guitar, vocals) and Caithlin De Marrais (vocals, bass) managed to travel from New York back to Madison, Wisconsin a few times over the course of six months to make Open Ground -- an album of material mostly written by Kaia outside of sessions with Rainer Maria.

Although the project uses the moniker of "Kaia Fischer," Kaia enlisted the help of Caithlin as well as Mike Kinsella (Owen, American Football, Joan of Arc) on nearly the entire record. The outcome is a much fuller, more collaborative sound than most "solo acoustic side-projects."

The recording was done at Rainer Maria's favorite Smart Studios with Mark Haines (Look Now Look Again, A Better Version of Me, and Long Knives Drawn) -- who also plays drums on a couple tracks.

"Just One More Day" is an Otis Redding cover.