Barenaked Ladies Are Me is the seventh full-length original-material studio album by Barenaked Ladies. It was their first original-material album since Everything to Everyone in 2003. It was released in September 2006 internationally. The album was also the first full-length original-material album from the band following their decision to become independent rather than re-sign with Reprise. The cover art was created by a group of artists called Team Macho. The name has been cited by the band as a double entendre for "Barenaked Ladies Army". Due to the diversity and wealth of content recorded for the album, the release of the material from the Are Me sessions became more complicated than for earlier albums. The band recorded 29 songs during the sessions but the primary physical release of Barenaked Ladies Are Me is a 13-track CD. Five months after the release of Are Me, a second primary physical album, Barenaked Ladies Are Men, was released, and included the remaining 16 songs from the same sessions. However, the line between these two releases was blurred by a series of additional releases which included songs from both releases in a variety of groupings. Thus, the entire 29-song collection could be considered the band's seventh full-length original-material studio album in its own right, or as both its seventh and eighth, taking Are Me and Are Men separately. Writing Reflecting their new independence, the album saw changes in the creative process of the Barenaked Ladies. The band began 2005 with several songs already written, many of which were performed, recorded, and released on the 2004 summer Au Naturale tour (see below for details). In spring 2005, Ed Robertson and Steven Page got together at Page's home and began writing the first songs specifically intended for this album. They met again at Robertson's cottage after the summer and wrote 13–15 more songs. Kevin Hearn was also busy writing songs at his own cabin, where he completed several songs for this album, as well as a large portion of his own album The Miracle Mile. Additionally, Jim Creeggan managed to complete a two-year-old idea into the song "Peterborough and the Kawarthas". The content provided by the latter two members continued the practice started on Everything to Everyone of including writing from band members other than Page and Robertson, and not taking in writing from outside the band. The band gathered the more than 30 songs (far