Panic At The Disco began writing the album, but after they'd written a solid batch of concept-driven songs, they stopped to reevaluate what they were doing and ended up deciding they were over thinking the process. "Instead of really throwing anything away, we decided to just move it to the side and approach the second record the same way we did the first record," Ross explains. "We tried to approach the songs individually and write songs that didn't sound like anything else we've written," he continues. "Now we're finally at the point where we can sit down and listen to the finished record and I know we're happy with it, so I think it was a really good decision-especially since we hope that we're going to have multiple opportunities to fully realize what our first idea was in the future."
That's not too say Pretty. Odd. isn't dripping with ambition-in fact, if anything, the opposite is true. From the bouncy and psychedelic first single (and accompanying video) "Nine In The Afternoon" to the spaghetti-western shuffle of the horn-driven "Pas De Cheval" and the straight-ahead pop genius of "Northern Downpour," Pretty. Odd. sees the band stepping outside their comfort zone to prove how much they've grown up since their debut, which was written when the members were just seventeen years old. "It wasn't a conscious decision to have older influences show through on this record, it just seemed like around the beginning of the sixties there were less subgenres, so it wasn't weird for songs to have a trombone part or violin part," Smith explains, adding that in some ways, his parents' dusty old records helped sonically liberate the band. "I think that will probably something that will stick with us after this record."
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