Lyrical Themes
Popmatters' Zachary Houle noted that the album had themes of growing pains experienced by people in their 20s. Jeremy Larson of Consequence of Sound noted the influence of Stephen Malkmus on the album's lyrics. Paul Thompson of Pitchfork Media related the album title to the encroaching chaos of modern life with the self.
With regards to individual songs, the track "Back and Forth" is based on Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." "You Are Invited," a song about an anonymous invitation that comes through the mail, deals with belonging and selflessness. "The City" deals with Morrison's loneliness living in a city, his longing for a wanderlust lover, and his inability to leave the city without abandoning everything that makes him who he is. Zachary Houle argued that songs such as "Memory Machine" and "What Do You Want Me to Say?" deals with themes of disconnectedness in the information age, including predicting the social media phenomenon that would be prominent in the following decade.
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Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)