The question with the album is not which songs are the best--they all are--but which have the best lyrics. Is it the starkly haunting "Tonight," with "My mind is like an orchard / clustered in frozen portraits?" Or the rapturous, pulsating "Wolf Like Me": "When the moon is round and full / gonna teach you tricks that'll blow your / mongrel mind?" Or perhaps the dissonant, glorious "Province" with backing vocals courtesy of Bowie? For my money, the winner is, "My clone wears a brown shirt / and I seduce it when there's no one around?" from the stuttering, caustic opener "I Was a Lover."
The point is, it doesn't really matter. It's just refreshing to have an album so strong and individualistic that comparisons and nitpicking take a backseat to lyrical couplets and moments of musical beauty. Such uniqueness seems too infrequent anymore to argue when a band manages to mesh electronica, doo-wop, rock and the kitchen sink so effortlessly.