Dalis Car was a musical group formed in 1984 by Peter Murphy (vocalist), Mick Karn (bassist, keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist) and Paul Vincent Lawford (rhythm construction). The band was formed soon after Murphy and Karn left their former bands (Bauhaus and Japan, respectively). They took their name from a Captain Beefheart song from his album, Trout Mask Replica. Initially, they recorded one album, The Waking Hour (UK No. 84), and released one single, "The Judgement is the Mirror" (UK No. 66). The cover of the album features a detail from Maxfield Parrish's seminal painting Daybreak.

The recording of the album took place in unusual circumstances, as neither Karn nor Murphy spent much time together in the recording studio, preferring to send tapes back and forth between each other, to work on alone.