"New Grass" was described as "Talk Talk as a purely placid and lovely proposition, electric organ and lilting guitar endlessly circling around Harris' heartbeat-steady drumming." "Ascension Day", in contrast, is considered the band's "most chaotic and vicious song," described by Harvell as "like a small jazz combo being elbowed aside by a noise rock band, with a climactic barrage of drumming that falls on your ears like an avalanche before the audible tape-splice cuts it dead." In the song, Hollis sings about judgment day and "its inevitable coming, saying farewell to us all."