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Maybe the opening instrumental "EKG" should be taken as a harbinger, signaling that this album may be too clever for its own good. To the band's credit the discordant beeps and insistent clanking do sound uncannily like a mechanical medical horror, though this kind of musical onomatopoeia has been done and is not a substitute for songwriting. Speaking of clever, "Random Name Generator" is a unique if slightly dated take on mischievous online behavior, musically suggesting the melodic riffs of Wings. More loaners from the Fab Four include the middle section of "More..." which descends into white noise a la "I Want You/She's So Heavy", and the outro of "Where Do I Begin" borrowing the backward masked drums of Magical Mystery Tour. Elsewhere it's the "dad rock" that Jeff Tweedy has been giving us for some time, and instead of showy, heroic leads from Nils Cline, most are understated and slightly to extremely discordant, "Taste The Ceiling" being the former, "Where Do I Begin" and "Magnetized" the latter. "More...", "The Joke Explained", and "Cold Slope" echo the quirky, angular melodic guitar pop of Spoon. "Pickled Ginger"**** is a restrained growl until some nicely abrasive guitar or keyboard I dunno noise kicks off the last verse that's the hardest this album gets rocking. "You Satellite"**** is the best overall-sounding song, a nod to the Yankee Hotel / Ghost Is Born era, building to a dense atmosphere of humming and chiming guitar mantras. "Magnetized" is a fittingly soothing ditty to close the album, with more Beatle-y influence in its swelling chromatic chord changes.
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