Hi schizophonia! And thanks.
There was a lot on Inland Territory that was musically hard to do. Figuring out the dissonant parts of St. Stephen’s Cross was a beast (Alex ended up guiding my piano meandering into something with an arc, in the studio). Singing White Light was a doozy too—still not convinced I pulled it off, or that the song works as one of my songs, period. Radio was a real challenge too, and a dark emotional journey to put it together, but somehow also really…fun. I think this is part of the answer to "how do you know when a song is done?" question, or rather a variation on it, "how do you know when a song is working?"—when recording and performing it feels right, even if it’s pushing you to your limits.
As to what come first: songs happen in all permutations of idea/lyrics/melody/chords/etc, but these days, it’s a lot of 1) some lyrics some music, 2) rest of the music, 3) rest of the lyrics songs.