The second album showcasing Seth Kauffman's unique "lo-fi North Carolina funk" sound, Research, achieves a complex creative depth and emotional appeal that is lacking in most modern rock music. Lo-fi, intelligent, and dripping with soul, Ting spans beyond your average rock album with all original songs interwoven with a sort of "early Wailers meets Motown meets Beck in the Delta" sound. A pioneer for funky invention, Seth forged beyond his previous roots-soul band the Choosy Beggars, to play all the instruments, write, produce, and engineer this entire record himself.

Kauffman's musical pursuits began at age four with classical violin. This path continued until around age fifteen, when he self-taught himself guitar. An interest in old blues and early black music also ensued, leading him teach himself basically "every other instrument except horns" (too expensive). This also prompted him to "de-learn" much of his classical training in exchange for a more feel and groove-oriented style. Combine that changing-of-hands with his solo travels to Jamaica and the African bush to study polyrhythms, plus snowboarding trips to the Swiss Alps, and the recipe begins to come together.

"A concept I like to integrate to give a more descriptive texture to a piece is attaching the wrong type of style-approach for a song," says Seth. "For instance: doing a blues piece like I was a latin-jazz guy, soul piece like an old gospel guy; whatever I feel is the most cosmically or painfully honest, and paints the most soul-correct picture." Approaches like this combined with his deliberately rudimentary recording techniques, work appropriately together to take the listener to this new, funky realm.