This is the hinge between the classic storytelling Cave style and the later devotional approach, where he and Warren Ellis let a two chord phrase lift them up to heaven. “Higgs Boson Blues” is a good version of Nick Reading The Paper and “Jubilee Street” is a great version of Nick Doing Scary Bedtime Stories. “Mermaids” is more in Nick’s New Bible vein, and everything between those songs works well enough to make this a slowly ripening classic.