 The meta-layer focuses on an unnamed author trying to write a novel but suffering a severe mental block.This is alluded to in the opening sequence with the sound of typing over a delicate piano etude.The author eventually falls into bouts of paranoia and delusional psychoses, episodes of which are illustrated in several places on the album including the backwards speech between The Vapours and Cameo, the haunting whispers and absurd lyricism of Strange Days, and the disconcerting sub-harmonic frequencies used in The Remarkable Cholmondley Chute System.