I've always assumed this of the breakup
1.) Darren and Ben have very different artistic ideas
2.) Darren was probably not "feeling" the band, Ben's creation
3.) Darren broke up the band
4.) Robert had nothing to do with it
5.) They called it mutual to be respectful to one another
This interview makes me think im correct
Yeah, I always assumed it had some part to do with Darren and Ben both being, in my opinion, fantastic songwriters, and Darren not getting a whole hell of a lot of voice in the band.
AND Ben living in Australia probably only made things more difficult. I did NOT know those New York shows were booked pre-break-up. Means a lot of the songs on the first Hotel Lights album had been in Darren's head for quite some time.