"The absence of much advance notice or information might seem a little strange and perverse but the record was made so quickly that I didn't even tell myself about it for a couple weeks," Costello says. The sessions for Momofuku were inspired by work Costello did on Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis' forthcoming solo album, which featured Costello's Imposters bandmates Davey Faragher (bass) and Pete Thomas (drums). Afterward, he booked a Los Angeles studio for six days in February to record eight newly written songs. One other song, "Song With Rose," sports lyrics co-written with Rosanne Cash, while "Pardon Me Madam, My Name Is Eve" came out of a writing session with Loretta Lynn last year.

"Every record has its own method. This was the one for these songs," Costello says. As for the unusual name, it is not related to the hip New York restaurant Momofuku Noodle Bar, bur rather "a tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the Cup Noodle. Like so many things in this world of wonders, all we had to do to make this record was add water." -billboard.com