Track order can make a big difference with your experience with an album. First and foremost I think there's a lot of value in an artist putting their best foot forward as it invites the listener in as early as possible. I mention this because I think it's a mistake that Wonderland makes by opening with Alpha the way it does.
Alpha is a dark trip hop song on an album full of dark trip hop songs, but where I'd say most of the other tracks have some sort of hook to make it stand out, this one doesn't travel very far throughout its four minutes and it left me feeling a bit uncertain as to how I was going to feel as I worked through this release. I was worried that the album would be kind of boring. I wouldn't normally start with a criticism, but in this case it feels relevant because everything after this track is an improvement.
The second track, Random Phrases v1, adds a Spanish guitar to the mix and it's immediately more interesting. The guitar itself is kinda shambolic, it feels like Hydra Transmitter is just noodling away, sometimes hitting upon an idea and sometimes just hitting the strings. Weirdly though, it works, I quite like the vibe it gives the track, as the bass hums and the simple beat keeps things moving.
It's surprising, though, how much things step up with Choose the Right Pill. A moody hip hop instrumental with a really wonderful oboe (I think) part. It's gloomy and sad and night time vibes and, while it will likely sound familiar territory to anyone who's spent a lot of time listening to trip hop, it's just really nice.
Odyssey is great, too. It's got a thumpy beat and big electric guitars, and at 6 minutes long, it feels like a journey. There are cool rhythmic tones in the percussion, and some discordant synths that bring in tension. It sounds very cool, I love the scuzziness of that guitar and how aggressive the guitar chords sound.
I think the album sort of ends with Half Awake v1, a very pretty and melancholy composition that almost sounds like the kind of thing múm would put out. It's a great way to end the album.
Except the album doesn't end there...
Bizarrely, we then get two tracks we've already heard: Random Phrases v2 and Half Awake v2. The former is, at least on a casual listen, near identical to the v1 version. The latter is extended and I think better for it. Now this isn't that big a deal, it's not like albums have never had alternate versions of tracks before, but they would normally be at the end like bonus tracks. The thing is, there's still one more track, the true closer, and these alternate versions get in the way of that.
Ominous Obstacle is the final track and it's great. It really is ominous. This bassline that sounds like a chainsaw in the distance. It's mostly just that and the beat until the rush for the doors towards the end, but it's really cool.
So that's why I felt the need to bring up the order of tracks. I don't think the album starts well and I think it gets muddled at the end with its alternate versions blocking the exit, and that makes the album end up feeling like less than the sum of its parts. If Alpha was somewhere in the middle and the alternate mixes at the end (or not there at all, honestly), I probably would have felt more satisfied by this release. That said, it's still worth a listen because the good stuff is very good.