Young Modern - Recording and Production

Recording and Production

Silverchair spent five weeks in the Australian Hunter Valley in late 2005 to practice and sharpen material that Daniel Johns had previously written. Following this, the band recorded intermediate full band demo versions of the songs. To record the final versions of these songs, the band travelled to Los Angeles to record with record producer Nick Launay at Seedy Underbelly Studios. Johns co-produced the album alongside Launay. During the L.A. sessions, additional songs were written and recorded. Van Dyke Parks was hired to compose orchestral arrangements for three songs: "If You Keep Losing Sleep", "All Across The World" and the 3 part epic "Those Thieving Birds/Strange Behaviour". Johns and Parks travelled to Prague to have the orchestral arrangements recorded by the The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Unlike previous Silverchair albums, Young Modern was funded independently by the band, rather than by a record label. This was done to "remove the added label pressures", according to Billboard. The name Young Modern comes from a nickname given to Silverchair's lead singer, Johns, by Van Dyke Parks during their time working together on Diorama in 2002. The album features various guest appearances from Australian and international musicians such as Luke Steele, Julian Hamilton and Paul Mac.