after seven listens, front to back, I have to say the first half always seems to fall flat. "All In", "Getting There", "Until The Quiet Comes", "Electric Candy Man" and for some reason "Putty Boy Strut" catch my ear the most, with "heave(n)" growing on me, but most of the songs are just meh to me. Many, like "Sultan's Request" just sort of go nowhere or don't develop into anything; or they just feel like interludes. few other songs, like "DMT Song" are cool ideas but they aren't fleshed out into anything too engaging.

I went back and listened to Cosmogramma and Los Angeles, thinking I had a biased ear because of how much time I've had with those album. But after listened to them both, especially Los Angeles, I felt like way more songs on these albums felt evolved and fully developed. They were ideas which were fully explored and all the dequence of songs were more fluid.

Still, I enjoyed "Until The Quiet Comes". The more ambient, mellow pace is right up my alley but these songs still don't grab me like anything from Cosmogramma or Los Angeles.