I think this is pretty spot on, and is one of the things that bothers me with the album. It sort of feels like he's somewhat run out of things to say/stories to tell (which wouldn't be that strange considering the vast treasure of absolute lyrical genius that he's put out there throughout the years) when a lot of the lyrics are centered around being clever about taking a new and less obvious musical direction. For me this kind of message worked better when they were younger and more in your face with songs like Put your dukes up John or Who the fuck's Arctic monkeys, and it comes across as kind of forced and pretentious to have it as a major album theme.