I first approached this challenge with the idea of writing either 1) a heartfelt, meaningful guitar ballad about my friend Pam, who died last year; or 2) a song about an assassin who fell in love with one of her targets (but killed him anyway). Both songs fall squarely in line with the kind of song I usually write, though, and the thing I love most about Spintunes is that it inspires me to write something different. So I decided to try and craft a pop song, instead, with a heavy emphasis on the chorus. (Often, my songs have no chorus at all to speak of, or a line of refrain at most.) I also wanted to leave my acoustic guitar in the case and use electronic loops and a heavy beat: more departures for me. The mixing challenge was one of the most engaging parts of the process, experimenting with panning and various effects (especially compression and EQ) to try and get all the parts to blend and build through the song. I’m grateful, as always, to Spintunes for the opportunity!