The guitars' sound and Mr. Martens's never-dull work bridge the various tracks, but Mr. Merritt will sing one song in falsetto, another with a Cookie Monster belch, and yet another with throaty rawness.
The temptation to surge on First Avenue can come from the feeling of redemption that comes not only from the wall of sound one encounters on the avenue, but from surviving the desolation of the Queensboro Bridge.