Following the breakout success of XO, Smith again teamed up with producers Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock for his Technicolor follow up, Figure 8, released April 18, 2000 on DreamWorks. The album was recorded throughout 1998-2000 at several studios including Sunset Sound and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles and Smith’s musical temple, Abbey Road Studios in London, where Smith used the piano that The Beatles used to record “Fool On The Hill.” Unlike XO’s major shift from the albums that came before it, Figure 8 continued Smith’s penchant for ambitious arrangements but took them into even bigger, bolder and sometimes weirder territory.