00:19 A crash of guitar, bass, and drums interrupts the otherwise quiet 1.5-minute intro ("One, Two, Three, Lots"), a somewhat common feature in albums these days; here, it prepares the listener for the unexpected that follows.
01:32 Brief, repeated piano notes segue the intro into the "motorik" of "Bells", a number that showcases Verity Susman's keyboard skills and the usual knack the band has for steadily building a song in intensity over five minutes. I remember this song from a live gig last December and it was one of my favorites.
07:44 Emma Gaze's drumming propels the next song ("Two for Joy") beyond its requisite slow build and into a layered, Stereolab-ish composition of droning organ, heavy bass, two-chord (three, perhaps?) guitar, and ooh's and aah's. An early standout with a great keyboard flourish near the end.
16:26 After four minutes of the instrumental "If Not Now, When?" a false ending starts things up again. The spontaneity of the live recording (with Steve Albini) comes across well as the guitar and keyboards "talk" to each other across the rhythm section.
16:07 Is that an accordion? The ghost of Astor Piazzolla? "Eight Steps" transports us into Terry Gilliam's Brazil. Even though Electrelane titled one of their songs from their debut album "Film Music", sometimes I feel that could apply to most of their (instrumental) tunes, especially here.
21:14 A train horn morphs into saxophone blasts over the course of "Gone Darker", a seven minute instrumental memorable more for the driving rhythm of Gaze and new bassist Ros Murray than the jazzy overtones.
28:30 The first bass notes make "Atom's Tomb" fit more with last year's The Power Out than their first, Rock It to the Moon. Two minutes later, it could fit on either.
30:50 Most people will hit skip after getting through about thirty seconds of "Business or Otherwise", an experiment that doesn't work and almost derails the album. Almost.
37:27 Wow! "Those Pockets Are People", like other songs, starts slow and builds momentum, but this one keeps going, right into
41:09 an amazing, driving cover of Leonard Cohen's "The Partisan". I hope they don't release this song as a single, though, because without the previous five minutes, it just doesn't carry the full effect. After the last of guitarist Mia Clarke's staccato riffs subside, it's obvious the album has reached its climax, its exclamation point. But the music continues...
45:52 A banjo intro eventually leads to the re-emergence of Chicago a capella, a good fit in "The Valleys" from their previous album. Their presence here seems a bit more forced or tacked-on, not nearing the success of "The Valleys".
47:22 Seven seconds of feedback as a separate track. I wonder why?
47:29 "Suitcase" is almost like a ten-minute recap of the previous 3/4 hour, collecting the band's various sounds into one song.
57:08 By the end, the early delights and the stunning climax of the album seem too far away, like 15-20 minutes should have been trimmed. Why must albums be at or over an hour in length? Just because they can? Sometimes brevity is a good thing. In this case it would make for a more concise, focused, and stronger effort.
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