Michigan duo Shoestrings started out in the mid-'90s as the twee-leaning indie pop project of high school friends Mario Suau and Rose Uytuico. The band was most active in the late '90s, drawing from the same well as sensitive Sarah Records acts and releasing a single LP before shifting gears and working on different projects. Suau and Uytuico remained friends and collaborators over the years, but brought their focus back to writing new Shoestrings songs in the mid-2010s, and finalized their new album Expectations in 2021, more than 20 years after their debut was released.