The story begins way back when Zero was being polished off. A handful of tracks were completed around the start of 2002:
January-July 2002 — Blind Youth, To Live a Lie and Only the Used Key Shines.
The first tracks written after Zero was released were in a fairly similar vein to the sixth album. In many ways, they were a progression from that project.
November 2002 — Sanctuary, A Picture on the Wall, Time Heals, When October Comes, Midsummer’s Eve and House of Cards.
In Autumn 2002, some very different tracks were written. Many were much darker and deeper than those on the previous album. At this stage, the seventh album looked like being extremely down-tempo.
February 2003 — A Place in History, Turn the Tide, The Hunter’s Smile, In Your Eyes, Never Wanted This, A New Leaf, The Source, From the Distance, Waiting for the Moment and The Final Problem.
Two things happened at the start of 2003. Many of the older unfinished tracks were finally completed, but also some more up-tempo tracks started to emerge.
May-July 2003 — Solitaire, Wherever You Are Now, Point of No Return and Back in the Day.
By mid 2003, Simon especially was starting to think about taking the album in different directions. Many tracks are darker and more industrial, inspired by the likes of Goldfrapp and Ladytron.
July-October 2003 — Not a Million Miles, Golden Wheel…
