The band put their back into the project as one, living together, dining together, always alert to their mission. The communal nature and concentrated schedule of the Sonic Ranch sessions proved an intense but inspirational combination. The sessions were marked by Heartless Bastards' openness to the unfamiliar, allowing previously untapped influences from The Byrds and Syd Barrett to the Faces and the Flaming Lips to take root in their own distinctive blues-powered rock 'n' roll.