Tree of smoke' is indeed a biblical reference, although not the burning bush... though I don't myself know the specific lines I found this info:
'In the Bible, the Tree of Smoke is a portent, signaling the day when "the sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes."'
In the context of the song, especially with reference to 'cover our heads as they split the atom' I would hazard that it's a reference to the 'tree of smoke' produced by an atomic bomb and a symbol of the dangers of modernity and technological advances... and all the strange things those bring.
I also thought it might be 'mimetic memory', not 'magnetic', which would make sense with the sci-fi tone of the album
Tree of smoke' is indeed a biblical reference, although not the burning bush... though I don't myself know the specific lines I found this info: 'In the Bible, the Tree of Smoke is a portent, signaling the day when "the sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes."' In the context of the song, especially with reference to 'cover our heads as they split the atom' I would hazard that it's a reference to the 'tree of smoke' produced by an atomic bomb and a symbol of the dangers of modernity and technological advances... and all the strange things those bring.
I also thought it might be 'mimetic memory', not 'magnetic', which would make sense with the sci-fi tone of the album