fit." Steve Klein, the band's principal lyricist and rhythm guitarist, also praised Panunzio for helping the band bring new elements to their sound. Describing the sessions as "best recording experience ever", he added, "It's this empty mansion where we were able to set up all our equipment, we just woke up and wrote songs. We were really relaxed and able to set our own pace. Everything about the record is way more classic rock sounding because Thom has done a bunch of classic rock records like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen and Ozzy, and the list goes on and on. He kind of brought this different element to our band. This disc is less guitar driven and more melody driven, more than any other of our records." One track, the folk-tinged acoustic song "Too Good to Be", was not written until the latter part of recording, only being penned in minutes whilst in the studio. Jordan Pundik joked that, "the funny thing is, that's the song you'd think we wrote sitting on a beach around a fire." While all the songs were primarily written on guitar, Chad Gilbert also tracked melodies on piano, despite his limited ability on the instrument. Gilbert explained that, "When we wrote the songs a couple of songs started out on piano, like the melodies. So in pre-production, I did the piano. But I'm not very good, I can write melodies, but I just use two fingers, my pointer fingers." Panunzio subsequently brought in Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) to play the keyboard, piano and organ parts throughout the album. Paul Buckmaster conducted string sections for "When I Die" and "Boulders", while indie rock band Eisley, comprising three sisters including Gilbert's then-fiancée Sherri DuPree, provided female backing vocals for seven tracks on the album. Once the process of mixing and mastering the record had finalised, the band asked Autumn de Wilde, best known for her portraiture and commercial photography of musicians, to shoot the cover art and liner photography for the album booklet. Chad Gilbert later declared that he was "really proud", citing the music as "the most uplifting" the band had ever written, while Pundik added that Coming Home would be "the one that will stand the test of time." Composition Music Music critics agreed that Coming Home represents a more "mature" sound than previously heard from the band. The album's mellow tone