STANDOUT TRACK: No. 2, “Problems Dialing,” a Led Zep/Deep Purplenish instrumental driven by drums and a synth riff. The song falls apart at the 51-second mark, ending in a burst of laughter from Mia Guizzetti-Hayes, the wife of songwriter-guitarist-­keyboardist Peter Hayes. The train wreck immediately gives way to the drumstick count-off for the next song.

MUSICAL MOTIVATION: The song’s heavy-rock feel contrasts with the melodic pop of the rest of the album. “We were attempting to do some stuff that wasn’t fully scripted,” says Hayes, a 48-year-old Glover Park resident. During recording, he kept the tape rolling between songs to “keep the continuity where one song ended and another began… We don’t operate that way as a rule—unfortunately.” Though the song’s incomplete, it’s on the disc because the vamp kept the “melodic flow [of the CD] somewhat continuous.” In the age of single-song downloads and iPod shuffles, Hayes considers song-sequencing an art form. So “Dialing,” in the key of E, had to come before track 3, “Lucky Baby,” “which I think is in B sharp,” says Hayes.

A TOUGH SPOT: Though it was a misfire in the studio, the song has appeared on recent set lists, which tend to follow the sequence of the CD. “We’ve actually begun using it as the opening song at a few of the last performances,” says Hayes. “The first couple of times we played it, it sounded really awkward, because we all have to kinda regroup—I think Joel [Kaufman] has to put a capo on his guitar. But we’re starting to figure out how to make it hang together.”