The album’s ambitious and intrepid production aesthetic belies its charmingly
ramshackle tracking methodology. Amy and producer David Poe (Regina Specktor, Kraig Jarret Johnson, Grace Kelly) recorded the album in her Venice Beach apartment, building evocative soundscapes from a messed up piano, an old flute, a dirty electric guitar, and by hitting her radiator with a belt of nails. “That was cathartic,” she says, laughing good-naturedly. “I had to repaint.”
When friends were in town, they lent their many talents on the album. Non-apartment contributions came via Jebin Bruni (Aimee Mann, Me’Shell Ndegeocello) on keyboards, John “Scrapper” Sneider (Curtis Stigers, Angela McCluskey) on trumpet, Louis Schwadron (Sky White Tiger, Polyphonic Spree) on french horn, Victor Indrizzo (Rufus Wainwright, Avril Lavigne) on drums and Doug Yowell (Joe Jackson, Duncan Sheik) on percussion.