Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson was asked by Metal Express Radio if this was the plan when he first started discussing musical ideas with bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee. "I don't know, really. I'm never sure what the plan is," said Alex. "We sort of start on the day and it takes its shape and we kind of go with it. I think probably with this record, we really wanted to play and wanted to stretch out a little bit. We wanted to have fun playing and also to strip things down a little. I think 'Snakes & Arrows', in retrospect, was a little bit dense, because it was written on acoustic guitar, which played a major role in the production. We layered a lot of acoustics and electrics and I think we got just a little cloudy at times. I really like the record, but with hindsight of living with it for a while, we realized that we kind of overcooked it a bit."