Starting with the dark-side-of-acid sound of “In Our Way,” the Weirdos change it up the most here by offering male/female duet vocals that might approximate Frank and Nancy whacked out of their minds on strange hallucinogens. While the zombified vocals introduce the foundations of actual songwriting to the mix, the music is a chilly concoction of ethereal squeal and bolero beat. Sung lyrics drop off again after this initial blast, and voices recede back into the din, such as the stutters and sighs that peep through the electronics on the Middle Eastern processional “Periods.” Hennessey is featured on one more primary turn, wherein she plays the Graham Lewis role of intellectual carnival barker in the Dome-esque “A Change in the Lexicon” and chants otherwise mundane phrases with an exaggeration that makes them sound metaphysical.

This core tension between the earthly and the ethereal becomes the defining flavor of the album, and the most successful tracks are the ones that recreate it. As usual, Starving Weirdos are at their best when exercising extraordinary control. The first moments of “Captured” wallow, sounding like a harp digging into the mud, but then the track takes flight with washes of distant choral voices and another exotic beat. “Dreams, Endless” starts the other way around, with gongs, wind, and a shapeless piano melody, but eventually uses a saxophone to tether it all together in a demented noir jazz binding. Similarly, “A Change in the Lexicon” restrains its absurdity with a symphonic rhythm that lurches more with each repetition.

That some pieces don’t work as well is the album’s only flaw. The beginning of “Dreams, Endless” is a meandering chore, while the Indian fussiness of the digital bonus track “Meditator” ironically makes it hard to focus. On Rolled in the Midst... each track featured widescreen cinematography with a surprising sense of purpose, while here, the more aimless pieces become insular and unmoving. So even though Land Lines plumbs the sonic magnificence of drug trips and dreams in that particular Starving Weirdos way, it might just be too grounded to fully transgress.