Bonus Content: Building the Machine

Right after writing the song, she went on YouTube, on what she calls a “research mission.” There, she discovered that David Byrne, known for his creative music both solo and as front man for the band Talking Heads, had rigged an abandoned building in Manhattan so that people could come in and, by playing the keys on an old organ, cause various parts of the building to make all sorts of clinking and clanging sounds. There were “clanks and these very cool sounds where the air was being pumped through the pipes, and the rafters would rumble like a truck,” said Spektor. “As soon as I heard that, it sounded to me like exactly what I heard in my head when I was writing the song.”

She decided to try and get permission to record there. “David and his assistant were so nice, and they said I could go do it,” Spektor recalled happily. After laying down the basic tracks for “Machine” in the studio, Spektor and her recording team went into the old building with recording devices. “I came in with some friends and my parents came also,” she remembered, “and we just kind of sat there and went crazy and recorded all these different sounds. We recorded some vocals in that big building and also all the clanks, and then we got together in the studio and edited them and placed them into the song.”

It just goes to show you that when it comes to creativity, the sky's the limit. Pay attention to the kooky ideas you might have when you're working on a musical project. Some of them might just lead to a fantastic result that is totally unique and totally you!