Recording primarily at The Killers' studio, Battle Born Studios in Winchester, Nevada. The album was produced by Ariel Rechtshaid and mixed by Alan Moulder. The album features notable musicians including Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys), Bruce Hornsby, Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel), Carlos Alomar (David Bowie), Joey Waronker (Beck), Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp), Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. (The Killers), Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors), and Danielle Haim (Haim).
The Desired Effect was a more focused album, with a huge personality and bolder, the producer and Flowers himself proved the 80's and John Hughes films soundtrack hasn't passed away, they're back and with an unique sound with several contemporaries artists, you can hear this on the brilliant "Lonely Town", that practically take you back to 1985 same for the other single "Can't Deny My Love" a truly unique with 80s vibes.
Flowers tried to capture the same vibe and sound many 80's songs type synth pop had at the time, think about bandd such as Bronski Beat, The Communards, Jimmy Sommerville and certain Pet Shop Boys slices there, the tracks are totally soaked in synthesizers, also the religious imaginery remained there, check out "Dreams Come True" with a sound thar reminded his non-celeb days, the arena-rock on "Untangled Love", the ballad "The Way It's Always Been", and with certain tunes in the middle as "Between You And Me", although the middle of the record seemed to vanished away except for "I Can Change", and "Diggin' Up The Heart" that turned into a more classic rock sound.
