All songs were recorded in Del Rey's hometown, Lake Placid, New York, at the Jim Cushman Studio. Almost all tracks have Del Rey singing in a higher register with feathery vocals, except for ' Birds of a Feather', which has heavy autotune. Every track is solely composed of only Del Rey's vocals and acoustic guitar, and often focuses on arpeggiated melodies using fingerpicking. Almost all of the songs on the album fall into the same range, and many are in the same key. The album was the result of her experimentation. After learning six chords on acoustic guitar when she was 18 years old, Del Rey took up the challenge of writing as many songs with those chords as possible.
