Around and Back Again

"Anna's crazy on the Pro Tools," gushes her husband. "She fucking kicks ass!"

Purveyors of sun-kissed music that they are, we ask what they believe makes the perfect pop song.

"Verse-chorus-verse-chorus," Waronker quickly responds. "Strong melodies and a point of view in the lyrics. It's gotta be fun to listen to so that you want to hear it over and over again."

"What people think sounds like a very simple formula can be very complex," McDonald adds. "Trying to get all those elements in a simple two-and-a-half-minute song . . . Sentiment with a sense of darkness that sounds good and you can dance to."

Seems as if Anna and Steve have pretty much seen and done it all. Or at least a really good chunk of it. But one or two moments have got to stand out, right? Right.

"Going to Disneyland with Kim and Thurston of Sonic Youth and their daughter," says McDonald. And the time they somehow got invited to Debbie Reynold's house for her birthday party. "We walked in, and there's Sean Connery, Rod Stewart, Madonna. It was one of those moments where you're like, 'My life is crazy.'"