Enjoying this album and all Mercury Rev / Flaming Lips albums fundamentally comes down to whether you enjoy Donahue's vocals. Clearly a lot of people do, myself included, but understandably a lot of people wont be able to. The strings on this album are reminiscent of Godspeed You Black Emperor. The opening track is reminiscent of some of the best Flaming Lips songs. Donahue's delivery on this album is stellar, STOOONEYYY... THROOOWWW. A strange mix of emotion here, melancholic but not quite depressing. The writing can at times be a little cliche. The backup vocals when they chime in are interesting and stray from notable influence seen elsewhere in the album and become something quite unique and of their own. Which is definitely interesting when paired with the heavy post-rock inspired strings. I collected coins is an interesting interlude, musique concrete, esque. Experimenting with distortion, really cool. A lot of the tracks exhibit a catchy build up with a great chorus. The happy end is a track i adore on this thing, modern classical, no-wave inspired, discordant, uncomfortable loops. Love. Im really mixed on the funny bird. The start and the refrains sounds like a mid Flaming Lips track but the break downs are really good. Overall a lot to like. 8/10