This volume examines the importance of place and sound in the songwriting, production and recoding of Affirmation, starting with Savage Garden's split and working backwards.

This pop gem builds on the band's Australian-made debut when they ventured overseas to record at an American recording studio. What followed was a work of immense intrigue that raises questions about the technologies and creativity used to craft this sound and where this sound can be placed in the context of popular music of this era. Savage Garden can be situated amongst artists and bands from the '90s – including rock groups Powderfinger, Regurgitator and Screamfeeder – whose origins lie in Brisbane, a site of decades of political and social upheaval by '90s. Yet the polished pop dimensions of Savage Garden also render the band an outlier that lures us to the way Affirmation sounds and how it was made.

Pat O'Grady explores the idea of '90s pastiche and genre ambiguity reflected in this album. The production aesthetics, composed of mechanical and human elements, from synths and drum machines to electric guitars, create a slick pop sound. Further, the album's songwriting and creative direction are contextualized in the social and cultural influences of Australia - particularly the band's origins in Brisbane - and the US - where it was recorded. Focusing less on what the album or each song means, this book focuses on how the technological and temporal contexts of the studio are central to the sound of Affirmation and its expressive dimensions.