as on past fiery furnaces' albums, the backing tracks have a narrative aspect, excuse the expression. for instance, the long 'bassoon' and altered tabla part in "the philadelphia grand jury" might indicate the singer in the song's waiting for the word (verdict). the loud guitar-drums-and-chamberlin 'thunderstorm' part towards the end of "ex-guru" indicates the thunderstorm brought about by the jilted ex-guru. the synthesizer filtering of the acoustic guitar in "duplexes of the dead" indicates the odd light that filters through the dirty curtains a duplex of the dead would no doubt have. the swelling melody at the end of "my egyptian grammar" indicates the pride that likely swells up in the breast of a blue jay referred to therein. the monkey and cow noises in "the old hag is sleeping" indicate the rooster at dawn. the guitar solo at the end of "cabaret of the seven devils" counts to seven. the train sound effect in "japanese slippers" indicates a train. and so forth.