Recording schedule: The recording was spread out into various sections. As a band we spent the second two weeks of this past August at the Hangar in Sacramento, recording live band takes and various instrumental overdubs to tape. We were recording from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day for two weeks. The recordings were converted to Pro Tools and made mobile to further track instrumentals and vocals at my folks' house in Los Angeles and in my apartment in San Francisco. From September through November, a good deal of time was spent making sure every song grew into its own character. And after touring in December, the songs were once again combed-through one last time to make sure there were no cracks in their armor. We also recorded some vocal parts at producer Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Vetiver, Little Joy)'s studio in the valley of Los Angeles.

Notable instruments/gear used: The gear at the Hangar - owned by John Baccigaluppi, creator of TapeOp magazine - is of the best quality. Every piece of vintage gear you can imagine is implemented while recording there. We used 16-track, 2-inch tape, and in the mixing process we used the BX 10, 20 and a reverb plate. We used mostly the same gear we use on stage to track the instruments. Thom brought his ancient P-Bass, flooding the album with a Motown pride and an array of foot pedals he has acquired over years of touring and making albums all over the world. Micayla (Grace) also played a '73 Guild JS, throwing in a lovely Fender Twin with an appropriate amount of dialed-in reverb.

I used a wall of amps we switched around depending on the currents ?of the songs and where their tides were leading us: a Fender '71 Bassman and a '65 Bandmaster head through one or two 12-inch cabs, a '59 Gibson Falcon and of course all the junkyard cabinets and parallel-to-none-in-tone mechanisms-turned-amp-heads Bryce Gonzales of the Hangar has equipped the place with. Other gear I used included a Leslie cab, a Les Paul, a generic '58 Kay guitar, a '67 Gibson Country Western acoustic and a mid-'70s red label Yamaha acoustic. For keys we used a creepy, old upright piano, a Wurlitzer, a Rhodes and a Hammond A-100 at my folks' house.

Jon (Sortland) plays drums and a Farfisa MiniCompact organ simultaneously. The kit he used was a transparent orange Fibes and from time to time an old Rogers kit.

The story behind the album: This album is a further search into the kind of storytelling Leopold and his Fiction albums are accustomed to. There were a few attempts to record parts of this album prior to getting together with Thom Monahan, who took into consideration previous works and common interests and inspirations while meeting with the band at the Hangar. The songs were mostly intact and carefully defined before entering the studio. Some were developed in the studio.

How does it compare to your last album? With the addition of new band members, the writing and recording process changed significantly, with new ideas brought to an ever-evolving storycraft. There were new characteristics of each member and very different needs as humans to consider as we were in a two-week studio lock-in - as opposed to going home every night after a full day of work. Some things did stay the same, though. I was able to record on my own time outside of a formal studio to really feel out the characters in each song. Each protagonist got their undivided attention vocally and sonically, and specific tones and cinematic re-occurrences are felt throughout. Songs on this album tend to venture out a little farther from the blues structures of the past. But the grit is intact, as well as the familiar start-to-finish theatrics and entertainment of voyage.

Any lessons learned from the last album that you wanted to change? The last album I recorded and edited almost entirely on my own. I learned I definitely wanted help, a guide who knows the path well. With the band lineup being what it is, I thought we really needed to go into a formal studio and close off the outside and get down to it. Thom knew exactly what we needed to add to our already trusted methods and he provided a wonderful platform for our ideas to flourish.

What's your philosophy on full-band takes versus individual tracking? Every thing we can do live we captured as best it could be captured. There is a lot we can do live, but each song offers so much versatility we did not limit ourselves to one way or the other. I feel an album is made to express songs in the best possible way. If something is called for, go ahead and do just that, don't hold back because it can't be played live. There are a lot of techniques in the studio that magnify the brilliance of the signal and the take.

Special guests? Three-fourths of the Dolanc string quartet.

Any obstacles in recording? Everything was rather seamless. Preparation and vision is a good portion of the process of making an album, as is spontaneity and going with that flow you create for yourself with proper planning.

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