are more prepared than others. That's just the truth of the situation." Along with photography, he was stimulated creatively after reading Legs McNeil's 1997 book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk and relating to its themes of artistic frustration and rebelliousness. In a 2009 interview for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hunt discussed working as an independent artist, stating "Creatively it is certainly liberating, but the rest of it is really not that fun. I wanted a happy medium between the system of recording, marketing and distribution which I think is very important to any product you want to bring to market ... but I never had that with the record industry. Now that I'm on the other side of it trying to be the artist and the industry, I realize what the importance of the system was, but I also realize there was a lot that was missing since it is basically dying now." He also said that he intends on recording another album "at least one more time and then go on tour, and then I don't know." Recording and production Hunt began working on tracks for a follow-up project in 2008. Two songs from those sessions, "Moving Targets" and "Eyes Like Pearls", were included on What Were You Hoping For?. After setting up his own label in 2009, Hunt began a new process for What Were You Hoping For?, writing and recording songs for 10 months. In an interview for the Chicago Tribune, he said of his expectations for the album's recording: "I really wasn't sure what it would wind up being sonically. I love Bach cello suites, I love punk music, I love old blues, negro spiritual quartets, Muddy Waters' 'You Need Love.' There is a simplicity but also a bite that connects all that music, from the growl in the cello to the timbre in Muddy's voice. I wanted simple music, but with bite, over which I could lay my lyrical shenanigans." Hunt played several instruments, including guitar, keyboards, drums, bass synthesizer, and the electronic drum. When he finished writing and recording the demos, Hunt began the album's primary recording sessions at Santa Fe Tracking Station in Los Angeles. With What Were You Hoping For?, Hunt pursued a "harder edge" and rawer aesthetic than featured on his previous work. He also wanted to explore a self-described "gnarly" guitar sound inspired by the work of