“The Fragile Army” is structured like a suite, and it’s the song that gives the best spotlight to the full breadth of the band’s instrumentation. The song’s generally great, I love the opening and finale, with lush choral and instrumental arrangements building to a cathartic finale. However, the b section, where Tim sings about black notes and keyboards, has the kind of weak theatricality that the Spree sometimes falls into. It doesn’t kill the song, but it’s a bit goofy and takes you out of the moment.

“Younger Yesterday” starts as a fairly standard Spree songs, but ascends near the end during a triumphant horn breakdown. I love when they put the spotlight on the unconventional instruments and take advantage of what only they can do. This song also spotlights the choir, who add wonderful color and shading to the song. There’s a lot of fantastic piano work throughout the album, with the ascending and descending lines during this song’s finale a particular highlight.

“We Crawl” is a more subdued song, but the Spree’s choir turns the chorus into a majestic plea for some kind of understanding. To be honest, I don’t pay much attention to their lyrics, they’re usually some vaguely positive platitudes, that’s not what their music is about for me. Who cares what they’re saying when you can listen to something as dynamic as the breakdown of this song, which overlays sawing cellos and horns before the choir erupts with “On our way today!” They transform the song from one man’s lonely plea to a collective expression of joy and dreams.

“Mental Cabaret” was featured on their 2006 EP, and it’s a great song, so I’m glad to see it get a more permanent place in their catalogue. It uses some interesting electronic textures and a driving, almost dance beat that distinguishes it from other songs in their catalogue. There’s still some explosive choral moments, but the tone on the whole is a bit lower, more street level than heavenly.

“Guaranteed Nightlife” is indicative of the more varied song structures the Spree adopted on this album. It opens with a choral proclamation, then moves into an electric guitar backed driving b section before slowing and returning to the original mode. It’s one of the weaker songs on the album, the chipper voices not exactly matching the talk about a guaranteed nightlife. But the dynamic shift between sections makes the song work, it’s one I’m looking forward to hearing live.

“Light to Follow” is the biggest departure from tradition for the band. It’s based on a looped electronic drum beat, and a more subdued feel. The choir whispers “Everyone needs their own light they can follow,” then we move into an almost eerie section with echoes of a woman’s opera style vocals moving through sonic space. It’s strange to hear the Spree do such a soft song, but it works. It’s haunting and powerful, which makes the string backed build near the end of the song all that more effective. The song eventually crescendos to a rock style, guitar soloing climax. I think part of the reason they don’t have any really long songs on this album is that they’ve figured out how to fit a lot more into a concise song.