Editing Palm Trees and Power Lines (section)

===Tracks 6–12===
During an off-day in the first week of pre-production, Pagnotta arrived at the studio early and began playing drums while vocalising melodies. He based this off the group [[Spoon (band)|Spoon]], whose music arrangements revolved around the drums and vocals. He began singing what would become "Destination Anywhere"; when Livingston arrived at the studio the pair started fleshing out the remainder of the song. At the group's next practice session bassist Airin Older came up with a riff that Pagnotta said was a mix between "[[New Year's Day (U2 song)|New Year's Day]]" by U2 and several [[Motown#Motown sound|Motown]] tracks, while DeSantis added [[Stab (music)|stabs]] in the vein of British [[Mod (subculture)#Music|mod]] music. Upon MacKillop hearing it, he remarked it sounded like [[INXS]], to which the band was "all shocked in horror."<ref name=SCInside/> The vocals for the track had to be re-recorded twice over as MacKillop thought it need to come across as intimate-sounding; a [[Moog synthesizer|moog]] riff was added in the bridge.<ref name=SCInside/>

"Champagne" is about Pagnotta's relationship with the group's former drummer Davis. He started writing it before Davis' departure when he noticed how different Davis was acting since he became an alcoholic.<ref name=BV/> It bounces between first-and-third person views; Pagnotta referred to it as [[the Cars]] "on steroids."<ref name=SCInside/> It was the last track finished during recording, and was mixed by Trombino, which Pagnotta felt added a denser layer to the song that they hadn't thought about. "What You Say" resulted from an in-the-moment jam session between Livingston and Pagnotta.<ref name=SCInside/> It was compared to the [[Foo Fighters]];<ref name=Melodicreview/> the guitar riff specifically recalled the one heard in "[[Breed (song)|Breed]]" by [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]].<ref name=OMHreview/> "Over" existed as a verse section for a few weeks; Pagnotta didn't feel it was fleshed out enough to share with the rest of the band. When the band was recording drums, Pagnotta showed Livingston and MacKillop a complete chorus section. The trio worked on it and planned to record it the following day, which by then they tracked it in 30 minutes. DeSantis suggested a [[Break (music)|rhythm break]] before the last chorus, which was then added to the track.<ref name=SCInside/>

"Head Up" evolved out of an idea that was written backstage during a show while in Belgium. The opening act was playing onstage upstairs while Pagnotta was downstairs attempting to track the idea into his recorder. Unable to hear the key of the chords, he recorded a tiny bit and fleshed out the song during soundcheck with the rest of the band the following day. It talks about remaining positive when you're doing something that other people may not like, something that Pagnotta felt after dropping out of education to focus on music. The chord progression for "Counting Stars" existed for about two months, during this time Pagnotta was unable to come up with any melodies or lyrics.<ref name=SCInside/> Pagnotta said he received test results from his doctor saying he was ill, only for further results nine days later to say he was okay. Between these results he wrote the lyrics to "Counting Stars", which acted as "an apology for anything I may have done wrong to hurt the world, people, friends."<ref name=BV>Shari Black Velvet 2004</ref> On the final recording, a friend of the band contributed what Pagnotta referred to as"sounds with his guitar that sounded like animals dying."<ref name=SCInside/> The closing track, "Sign Off", was written by Pagnotta as he sat on the end of his bed. He explained that partway through the making of the album he felt lonely, confused and sad while questioning his life.<ref name=BV/> It was recorded in the back room at the studio solely by Pagnotta, with some overdubs from MacKillop.<ref name=SCInside/>