Tiny Pictures was recorded in early 2008 in Toronto’s Phase 1 and Lerxst Sound studios, the latter being the production home of Rush’s guitarist, Alex Lifeson. The aim was to reach for a vintage rock sound also liberally embellished with subtle hooks and “fairy dust, bells and whistles,” as Thornley refers to them, citing Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run as an example of an album where little gifts continue to reveal themselves over repeated listens. Thornley played jack-of-nearly-all-trades on the record, laying down all the vocal, guitar, and bass parts himself, including the near-unthinkable: teaching himself pedal steel over one fevered day to record “This Is Where My Heart Is”. The thundering spine of the album was provided by Nickelback drummer, Daniel Adair, who appears on 11 of Tiny Pictures’ dozen tracks, alongside Black Crowes’ Steve Gorman, who was scooped up during a brief stint in Nashville to provide a southern beat to the power ballad “Changes”. Oakville, Ontario’s St. Andrew’s Children’s Choir even came on board to make “Under the Radar” soar. Thornley also sought interesting partnerships for songwriting, co-penning album cuts “Your Song” with Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, “Another Memory” with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider (Queens of the Stone Age, Eleven), and aforementioned first single “Make Believe” with Dave Genn (54-40, Matthew Good Band). Lastly, the album gets one of music’s greatest seals of artistic pedigree through the cover artwork once again