Released in 1984, the album marked a change in direction in her musical career, away from the soul R&B image of her previous albums and toward a more individual and avant-garde sound. Dalbello wrote every track herself, and changed her recording name from Lisa Dal Bello to her last name only. Musician Mick Ronson, who collaborated extensively to the project, produced the album with her; all instruments were played by either or both of them.
The title is a pun on the words "human forces".[2] The original vinyl album cover features in either black or white the name in faux Cyrillic letters; on the CD version, this was replaced with regular uppercase lettering. Lisa's face is featured on the cover painted in the style of the indigenous people of New Guinea. The sentence "This album was recorded with the Hughmann technique" was placed in the credits, though it was an invented term, meaning that humans were involved.[3]