A song like "Soul Drifter" might look back to the golden age of Gershwin-like pop standards, but that's more a sort of classicism than innovation. "Soul Drifter" does build very nicely, gaining momentum with a gentle swing - sort of like an old standard from a '30s musical?
I listen to "Tusk" while running on headphones these days, along with the '80s FM albums. One thing that's great about Lindsey's production on Tusk is the very subtle touches, like vocals on "Sara" mixed so far down you can barely hear them - but you do hear them. While on "Rumours" he was definitely arranging songs to make the hooks hit home (and GYOW is the best example of this, with those added guitar chords slowing the momentum in the verses so that the chorus really kicks). On "Tusk" it seems like he was doing the opposite, messing with the song structure in a way that made the songs more ambient. And the song "Tusk" is almost all atmosphere and texture, very little song.
