After promoting their debut album Women in 2008, the band felt the pressures of extensive touring and began recording Public Strain soon after finishing their tour— the members lived in a house together with a place in their basement that was used to jam for hours at a time. The album was produced by Chad VanGaalen, who also worked on Women's first album. It was the first to be recorded in VanGaalen's new studio space called Yoko Eno. Patrick Flegel, a guitarist and front man of the band, would describe the recording process as a "slog", but with similar or the same experimentation techniques as Women. Flegel would create a sloppy demo of a track and slowly piece it together with VanGaalen, relatives of VanGaalen, and the band members, a process which he described as "debaucherous". Drummer Michael Wallace was not particularly involved in the songwriting process but acknowledged Women's influence from the Velvet Underground, especially Moe Tucker. Wallace was also influenced by his knowledge gained in India before joining Women.
