Composition
Lyrically, Songs for Dustmites deals with "familiar themes of love and loss", while Burns himself has described the album as "songs about science and love". Musically, the album fits into the pop/rock and alternative rock genres, and is heavily influenced by the Flaming Lips. The lyrics of the opening track "Mighty Little Man" have been interpreted in different ways: a television watcher who suddenly turns into "an everyday superhero", or "a lonely inventor's eureka moment". It was inspired by inventor Thomas Edison and his "DIY projects that changed human history". When he made the song, he wanted it to "write a positive, empowering, exclamation point of a song". The song itself contains a "fury of noise". The following track, "What I Do on Saturday", is a "playful" pop song, while "Maintain" is a more mainstream song influenced by American alternative band They Might Be Giants. The song "Troposhere" is "bright and bouncy", sounding like the Flaming Lips song "Fight Test". The ballad "A Song for Dustmites" contains piano and synths. The next track, "Stick Around", is melancholic and sounds optimistic with its cello and trumpet. ">1" is a "simple" downtempo song that tells the story of a dysfunctional relationship. It features strings and a guitar solo.
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