why getting killed by geese is so cool
(my reading of the album and my credentials are that I listened to the album more than you did)
The gun is death. Cameron Winter is dead at the start of the album, killed by the bomb in his car. His first lines are in past tense, "I tried/I tried so hard". He has failed his mission and is now comforting himself with a sentiment of at least having made a genuine attempt. The bomb in his car is inevitable death, just like the gun pointed at the viewer in the album art. The family is falling apart: in bed, dead, in the shed, burning lead, force fed, baked into bread. Cameron is trying to get away, but he won't. The car has Allinol from Cars 2. It's all a trap and the inevitable death and ruin which came to his family is now coming for him. He screams in desperation, "THERE'S A BOMB IN MY CAR!!!". Our hero has been fucking destroyed by the city tonight.
The city has been a horse on Cameron's back. It gives him all that he needs, but living within it is like walking with no shoes or being trapped in a gumball machine. This city anxiety causes the tension building up to the inevitable release of the "bomb in my car". "I'm getting killed by a pretty good life" is a present-tense statement. Being murdered by the city is a constant state of being for Cameron.
"Au Pays du Cocaine" is an ode to dying in this way. "You can be free, you can be free and still come home" and then a reassuring "I'm alright/It's alright". The reading of "Au Pays du Cocaine" as being from the perspective of a highly addictive drug isn't mine, but it does contrast interestingly with the themes of getting out and leaving the city/ruined family members behind. "Whatever's he's got in his hand, you can get it on your own/When that light turns red I'm driving away/I'm getting out of this gumball machine". One way to read this could be Au Pays du Cocaine being from the perspective of the city, a response to the protagonist's desire for freedom.
The last two tracks, both mainly in the first-person, glorify the death as martyrdom. "I should burn in hell/but I don't deserve this/Nobody deserves this/If you want me to pay my taxes, you'd better come over with a crucifix".
Joan of Arc is the first character mentioned in "Long Island City Here I Come", famously burned for her country and her god. Cameron wants that allegiance to something badly and begs "Poor Joan" for it, "You've been talking to You-Know-Who/and if you can talk to him, you can talk to me too". The end of the song is sung victoriously, with the reference to "Charlemagne in Vietnam" calling to mind images of war and conquering, painting Cameron as a victorious champion.
But in the end, he admits the narrative has been a lie all along. "I have no idea where I'm going/Here I come".