I'll write a bit about this one too, as I've been listening to it a handful times today.
1. Pull 02:32
A very calm, pretty track with a slightly trippy backdrop.
There's a simple guitar plucking melody that alternately ascends and descends across three notes. Male vocals up front, soft female backing vocals occasionally in the background. I really like the voice that comes in past the midway point and sounds kind of mellotron-ish. The male lead vocals sound kind of lethargic, but in a way that seems intentional and works well.
2. Flags 01:54
Nice shuffling drumbeat. The male vocals almost reminded me of Maynard James Keenan for a split-second, but maybe that's just me! After a couple bars of singing, a guitar lead plays a fill. Then a couple bars more of vocals (this time a wee bit more agitated and Maynardey), then some more unhinged soloing and boom: the song ends. Structurally it makes good sense, but I do feel like it could (should?) have pushed past the barely-two-minutes mark and gained from it.
3. Fed A Spider 03:16
There's some weird sounds in this one. Sounds kind of like a saw being played, but then again, I can't quite decide. The point is that it sounds odd.
There's a couple soft guitar chords being played over and over again with the bass guitar doing a bit more of the work as far as driving the song forward goes. The moany, slightly Nick Cave like vocals bind it all together and I think that the general flavour of this track could really go over quite well if it was featured in a movie or something. Good track.
4. Oneironaut (acoustic) 03:57
Familiar sounding guitar strumming territory here. What catches my interest here is mainly the low, flute like sound in the background. Quite ominous. The vocals sound somewhat like the singer is not in his natural voice here. Still, it works well as the melodies sung are quite nice. Some hand drums (or guitar body tapping?) plus some spanish guitar plucking come in late in the track, the joins the previous vocal part until the finish. I like this one quite a bit too.
5. Cats n' Dogs 04:24
Loving the start of this one! The start of the track sound like circus music. Superficially, this track makes me think of Faith No More's "RV". The vocals here are not quite that strange, though, even if there is a slight trace of Tom Waitsian edge at times. There's a drum transition just around the 3 minute mark that sounds pretty awkward to me, but I like the guitar that comes in just after it. At 3:51 the music quiets and an electric guitar gently plays us out. Nice, but it somehow seems like the least interesting song yet.
6. Pile of Guts 03:18
With that title, I expected death metal! It isn't that, but a bit wilder it is. Let's call it upper mid-tempo rock with quieter verses and lots of reverbey guitar leads underneath and above most segments. A bit jam-like in style. Grows a bit more conventional as we move deeper into the track, but I'd still call it quite a good track. Maybe the guitar riffs in the second half could have been better - it just feels like it needs a little dash of something there.
7. Trees in the Wind (acoustic) 03:19
Quiet track after a loud track to end the album on. Nice choice. Sombre acoustic guitar plucking and slightly monastary like singing (monastic? monk like? ahh, don't know the proper word here) lends it some gravitas. Like Oneironaut before it, the singer isn't quite in his natural voice here, but it does sound good despite it. We get a bit of soloing and the song ends - a bit suddenly too. The track is over three minutes long but it feels like it could have taken its time to let the mood sit for a couple more minutes. Wouldn't have minded a word-free vocal harmony part in the end, or something else that would fit the mood and style of the song.
Closing thoughts:
I liked all of the tracks more or less and the album certainly doesn't manage to really outstay its welcome at a mere 25-ish minutes. The most impressive thing is probably the sheer variety of styles and not least vocal styles - even if the singer does not always sound like he's in his element. The only negative thing I feel like isn't pure nitpicking is really just that the songs often feel slightly underdeveloped. Better too short than too long, no doubt about it, but a few more minutes spread out across some of these tracks could have done wonders.