"The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" opens with a series of moody, deep-sounding chords designed to emulate the sound of an organ—an edited version of a K2000RS preset called NeoProfit. The first half of the song's drum programming was inspired by the Björk album "Homogenic" (1997), while the second half, with its four on the floor pattern, was inspired by the work of Lali Puna and the German record label Morr Music. Gibbard wrote "Such Great Heights" as a love song for a girl he was interested in at the time. He noted that the relationship ended rather quickly, rendering the song's meaning rather pointless. The song came together late in the recording process, and was one of the last songs the duo completed in June of 2002. Its genesis came together "incredibly quickly," according to Gibbard, who felt it "seemingly came out of nowhere. It did feel that there was some sort of spiritual transcendence happening and the song being beamed down to me." For Gibbard, the song was a thematic departure from his more melancholy subject matter: "I think 'Such Great Heights' is the first time I've ever written a positive love song," he told "Rolling Stone", "where it's a song about being in love and how it's rad, rather than having your heart broken."