Code Orange released Love Is Love // Return to Dust on November 20, 2012, under their original name, Code Orange Kids. The Pittsburgh band's debut arrived through Deathwish, with Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou recording it at GodCity. Across ten tracks, they were already testing how much melody, space and instability they could fit inside a hardcore record.
“Flowermouth (The Leech)” opened the album and introduced it visually through a Max Moore-directed music video released that October. Its abrupt attack was one part of a record that also made room for the more spacious “Colors (Into Nothing)” and “Calm // Breathe.” Those changes in intensity were central to what the band wanted from a full-length.
Drummer and vocalist Jami Morgan put the problem plainly in a November 2012 interview with Exclaim!: “Full-lengths can get real boring real quick,” he said, “especially when it's hardcore bands.” The debut's melodic material was a deliberate response to that problem. It also created practical challenges. Morgan explained that the band was still working out how to perform a couple of the songs effectively, even with the recording finished and the album released. Expanding the arrangements meant finding new ways to make them work onstage.
Tigers Jaw's Adam McIlwee contributed guest vocals to the album, adding another voice to that expansion. The pull toward melody also had a parallel outlet: three of Code Orange Kids' four members played in Adventures. That project explored emo, while Code Orange Kids were trying to make those broader interests work within their heavier music.
Bassist Joe Goldman described the range of those interests in a December 2012 interview published on Viva Davin. Pittsburgh's punk-rooted hardcore scene was their starting point, but metal, crust, emo, experimental rock and pop all fed into their listening. Goldman also emphasized the influence of friends' bands, even when their music differed sharply. What connected them was a shared community and intensity. His account helps explain the debut's willingness to move between violent bursts and quieter passages. The connection extended to the band's presentation. Discussing Moore's video work, Goldman described the imagery on their records, merchandise and videos as parts of a larger whole. They had specific ideas behind those designs, and he saw the videos as another way to express them.
Their choice of label reflected a similar attachment to that community. Looking back in a 2017 Kerrang! interview, Morgan said they had opportunities with bigger labels but chose Deathwish because they wanted to be part of its culture. The debut's wider musical interests developed alongside that commitment to hardcore.
The next album marked a more deliberate break. In June 2014, the band announced that they were shortening their name to Code Orange ahead of I Am King. Morgan later explained that the change gave them a chance to rethink the group as though they were starting another band. He even pursued a separate Spotify catalog identity for the earlier Code Orange Kids material. There was continuity behind the reset, though: Ballou returned to record and engineer I Am King, and Deathwish released it on September 2, 2014.
