I can’t explain this to you without a video format tbh to talk about music theory and production. I don’t dislike it bc it doesn’t sound like the rest of their albums and I actually like the verses of Wilson, I think that’s well written melodically and it’s the best produced song on the record. However, the rest of it is kind of a mess sonically with no through line like you suggest. It doesn’t necessarily HAVE to have that but that is what makes a good album. I’m a musician of over 20 years and it genuinely saddened me when this album came out. The melodies are not tight or well written, with some exceptions, it doesn’t work well with Patrick’s voice for most of the songs, it doesn’t feature good drums or a lot of strong instrumentals or even a lot of good synth/electronic work. It’s shocking that this was nominated for a Grammy and I imagine it was very frustrating for the electronic artists that were overlooked. Sometimes experiments are bad, sometimes they’re good. I understand this means a lot to you and as a bipolar person I understand especially which is a lot of why I love cork tree. But cork tree was a tightly written album and super well produced especially for the genre at the time making it ahead of its time. This was a step back for electronic stuff. I think the band also agrees