: Critics describe it as a "fever dream" or "tone poem" characterized by a "lyrical melancholia". Key Tracks and Themes
: The album is a "loose concept" work centered on Lewis Carroll’s (Charles Dodgson) obsession with Alice Liddell , the child who inspired Alice's Adventures in Wonderland .
Waits described the album as "adult songs for children, or children's songs for adults".
: Moving away from the "carnival clank" of earlier works like Swordfishtrombones , Alice utilizes a "skeleton chamber orchestra" featuring pump organ , Stroh violins , cello , and vibraphone .
: The sound is a blend of Brechtian cabaret , Dixieland jazz , and parlour ballads .