Finally, turning tail on all things WA, I was able to reconnect with my muse. I consider this the true follow-up to "Screen Kiss." I put a studio in my house, and spent six months writing trippy instrumentals that didn't at all resemble pop. To my surprise, the album was a commercial and critical success, despite the fact that I was on a tiny label and I didn't play one single live show. It hit some kind of underground buzz, and was the most analyzed record of mine to date. (It had gotten a little old, reviewers saying the liked an album, but then going on for 500 words about the suits, not mentioning any songs!) I think part of the appeal was the furious sketch-pad nature of the record, all blurry and blown. Every guitar sounds like it's fraying the tape, all the drums are loud and all the keyboards patches pure dirt. I've done better writing on future albums, but I couldn't have got there without this one. I also got to learn how to record, mostly from my own mistakes, many of which are there for every engineer to hear. (Three words: too much compression.) Yet, despite all these eccentricities, I think the album works as a late-night vampire, and doesn't sound dated (yet.) Most of the songs are first takes with me on every track. Five of the songs I thought needed more energy, so I brought in some great players to help round out the album. "Charm School" and "Star 80" were holdovers from WA that I always liked, therefore they sound out of place on the record, but they're still good songs. FYI: "Dye 3 Radar Station" is an outpost in Antarctica at the highest point of the world, and "90-19" are star coordinates. Hey, people ask.