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Nutini in a midtempo duet with a Bettye LaVette vocal sample; he does his best Marvin Gaye to match her emotion. "One Day" recalls "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," layered with strings, rumbling percussion, furious bass, with an eerie spooky B-3 a la "Good Vibrations," and a female backing chorus, and offers a nod to Sam Cooke; Nutini's vocal soars between crooning and growling. "Numpty" owes a debt to songwriter Allen Toussaint and singer Lee Dorsey for using the melody in "Working in the Coal Mine." "Better Man," the album's hinge-piece, is one of the few tunes here that showcases Nutini as an emotionally intuitive singer/songwriter. It suggests the hungry Caledonian soul of the young Van Morrison, illustrated with a large female backing chorus, acoustic and electric guitars, and a knot-tight rhythm section. Single "Iron Sky," is an indictment of religious institutions as systems of control; it contains bluesy, slippery psych-funk and unfolds gradually, gathering steam with big brassy horns and crashing cymbals framing the singer's dramatic delivery and contains an extended sample from Charlie Chaplin's monologue from the Great Dictator. "Fashion" is greasy funk with Janelle Monáe adding a fiery feminist rap to the middle. "Looking for Something" pays homage to D'Angelo's nocturnal g-funk soul.
