Entitled Close to the Sun, the album is made up of 12 original songs that were recorded in New York and produced by Porter and Michael Tudor. Strokes producer Gordon Raphael also produced one song.

"Close To the Sun is a collection of songs I wrote and recorded over the last few years, in between Fountains of Wayne albums and tours," says Porter . "After working on my friends records (Albert Hammond, Jr., Juliana Hatfield), I decided it was time to put out my own. It was nice to be able to let this record come together gradually until I had the right songs to make sense together on one album."