Kenton Hall was born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada. From the age of 12, he toured Vancouver Island with the school orchestra, playing alto saxophone, before he decided, on his first listen to Elvis Costello's Mighty Like A Rose, that what he really wanted to do was write songs. The saxophone was swapped for a second hand acoustic guitar and a Big Book of Beatles Chords, and he began a long apprenticeship, marked by long, rambling songs about veterans of the First World War. Raised by the most psychotic of Jehovah's Witnesses, Hall's upbringing made pursuing a career in music difficult and after his first band, Trial By Choice (consisting of Hall and fellow songwriter/guitarist Chris Bolduc) completed one studio album, Virtual Sincerity - happily now out of print - he decided to flee his family and set up home in their native Britain. There he formed the band Wake, who released their Little Insects EP (also featuring Bolduc) in 2000.

After struggling to come to terms with his utter lack of religious belief, and the resulting failure of his young marriage, Hall met Chris Garland of Pink Box Records. After several abortive attempts to put together a band and recording for the initial release, the first official line-up of ist recorded the limited edition Adult Tree EP in 2001, followed by Freudian Corduroy in 2003, King Martha in 2005 and the forthcoming Toothpick Bridge in 2008. ist's chief lyricist, Kenton Hall was nominated in 2006 as one of MOJO Magazine's Top 20 Songwriters of Substance (although, in truth, all ist material is co-written with the band) and is also the author of numerous essays and short stories, culminating in the companion volume to Toothpick Bridge, also due for release in 2008.