After putting down some early ideas while touring, Collins did not revisit the new material until he started work on a new album in his home in Switzerland, at the end of 1995. In a contrast to his usual method of songwriting, Collins deliberately wrote the songs on the album with greater use of the guitar and less on keyboards. Despite not being a guitarist, Collins used guitar samples which dramatically altered the way he approached a song. Before the songs were fully arranged, Collins had decided to bring in a producer so he could take a break from the material and leave them to their duties later. This marked a change as for "Both Sides" he found himself "living, breathing and sort of dying" with the material and recorded and produced the album himself. For "Dance into the Light", Collins hired Hugh Padgham, who had co-produced most of Collins's solo studio output and had worked with him with Genesis.