The married duo of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland—two Canadians with a serious sense of Americana—let producers Gus Van Go and Werner F add bass and guitars and install real drummers alongside their usual use of loops. This helps create a truer sense of the duo's Cowboy Junkies–meet–Mark Lanegan–and–Calexico aesthetic. “Sweet Disaster” relies heavily on McClelland’s feminine touch to bring a lighter ‘60s pop dimension to what would otherwise be darkness. Tribal beats and spaghetti western guitars provide their usual kick of mystique, with “Baby, What’s Wrong,” “Downtown,” and “You Get Older” benefitting most from the Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazlewood–like ride.