The opening track, "2 + 2 = 5" is a rock song that builds to a loud climax. "Sit Down. Stand Up", an electronic song, was influenced by the jazz musician Charles Mingus. "Sail to the Moon" is a lullaby-like piano ballad with shifting time signatures. The lyrics allude to the Biblical story of Noah's Ark, and was written "in five minutes" for Yorke's infant son Noah. "Backdrifts" is an electronic song about "the slide backwards that's happening everywhere you look".