Recording and Production
The band continued writing for their follow-up in September 2007. In one month, the band had completed writing "six or seven songs" that contained a much more positive outlook to them, according to Ross. In October, the band entered the Studio at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas to begin recording the album. Ross became the primary spokesman for the band, remarking to MTV the band was "working backwards" for the release, stripping down its sound and going for a more classic rock approach. With Pretty. Odd. the band was not concerned with succumbing to the pressures of living up to the success of their debut, instead writing and recording songs that made them happy.
The first song written for the album was actually a hold-over from the scrapped record, "Nine in the Afternoon". "We wanted to have a song people could just get on the first listen. ... It was one of those spur-of-the-moment songs that came together in a couple of hours. It's just a fun song; it's not really meant to be taken seriously," said Ross of the song. The song inspired the band to write happier tracks, and, from there, the band buckled down, ripping through eight new songs in a little more than six weeks, then writing a couple more while ensconced at the Palms. By the end of the year, the group was well on their way to finishing production on the album. The album came together quickly and each song written made the cut, with "Mad as Rabbits" being the final recorded.
In January 2008, the band wrapped up recording at their home studio over one week, and headed to London's legendary Abbey Road Studios to record strings and horns, which the band regarded as "truly a dream come true for us". While there, the band also mixed the album with Peter Cobbin. Mathes was involved in the instrumentation of the album, performing keyboards, acoustic piano, and the mandolin. Mathes arranged and conducted the orchestra at Abbey Road for all tracks except "Nine in the Afternoon". A wurlitzer can be found on "Mad as Rabbits", played by Rick Ronick.
Read more about this topic: Pretty. Odd.
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