Adam Masterson, marking his first producer role outside of the band; Rogers performed on one of his tracks. The band regrouped at Big Mushroom in December 2003, after the conclusion of Burgess' solo tour of the UK. They expected to have an album's worth of tracks finished by early 2004, eventually ending in February 2004. Linus of Hollywood recorded Burgess' vocals for "Try Again Today"; Mike Cave did additional engineering on it, as Blunt thought the song sounded a bit overproduced. The songs were mixed by Spencer, Ken Nelson and the Chemical Brothers at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool and Mayfair and Miloco Studios in London, before the album was mastered by Frank Arkwright at Townhouse Studios, also in London. Johnny Marr helped compile the final track listing. Composition and lyrics Musically, Up at the Lake is a pop rock album, which continues the country rock direction that the band initially explored on their sixth album Tellin' Stories (1997). Cokemachineglow writer David M. Goldstein explained that Up at the Lake had the "same hazy, guitar-centered production, and an emphasis on la-di-da country-rockers evoking the [Rolling] Stones at their late '60s/early '70s peak" as Tellin' Stories. AllMusic reviewer Jason Damas wrote that the "classic-rock coloring that dominated discs" such as the band's self-titled (1995) and Tellin' Stories albums return, in addition to "brief flirtations with classic folk". The band's trademark Hammond organ sound also returned, though in a reduced presence, as Collins' guitarwork was placed higher in the mix. Burgess largely dropped the falsetto vocal styling that he used on the majority of Wonderland, though it was used on "Up at the Lake". According to Burgess, the album's title is taken from a never-made David Lynch film, and "I thought we could at least provide the soundtrack to this unmade film". The opening track, "Up at the Lake", is a British traditional rock song; its first line is adapted from "Loose Fit" (1990) by former contemporaries Happy Mondays. The indie disco song "Feel the Pressure" evokes the Tellin' Stories track "One to Another". Burgess said its "full horror movie" intro section was made by collaborataors the Chemical Brothers. For the rest of the track, Collins came up with music that was more akin to the rest of the album until Blunt said the Chemical Brothers "did their thing to it". Burgess had Brookes play a drum pattern akin to the sound