The album was "inspired and haunted by 20th Century New York City" and recorded in such far-flung locales as Tokyo, London, Los Angeles, and Manhattan. The album was co-produced by VW's Ezra Koenig and regular collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid, mixed by Dave Fridmann, and mastered by Emily Lazar. / The album title comes from the photo on the album cover by Steven Siegel, and other photos from his "Subway Dream" series documenting a Jersey City junkyard in the late-'80s. 
 
Tracklist
- Disc 1 -
1 Ice Cream Piano
2 Classical
3 Capricorn
 
- Disc 2 -
1 Connect
2 Prep-School Gangsters
3 The Surfer
 
- Disc 3 -
1 Gen-X Cops
2 Mary Boone
3 Pravda
 
- Disc 4 -
1 Hope