The song's nods to spiritualism could have seemed heavy-handed and perhaps a little trite, but the combination of Jackson's featherlight vocals and the sheer force of the song's immaculate chorus means it elegantly mines that thin line between joy and sorrow.
In other words, there is an immaculate fit of means with themes – although (and because) these themes turn out not simply to concern the beauty of science, but the ways in which science and humans interact and overlap.
After Porcello's performance on Wednesday night, I e-mailed John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball, looking for a wise pronouncement about what the single-season record for immaculate innings could mean in a year dominated by the long ball.
The collection also showed that immaculate doesn't necessarily mean minimalist.
He always speaks fondly of his humble roots, and I don't mean his immaculate hair.
"When we get to our suite, it is immaculate, and that is what means a lot to me.
City's immaculate record after five matches means they have broken a 103-year-old club record with 10 straight league wins, going back to the end of last season.
The tale is fascinating and Gorman's immaculate timing and deadpan delivery mean there is scarcely a second's break in the hilarity.
The music writer Simon Reynolds called Roxy's last album "immaculate background music," and while he meant it critically, as a way of noting the difference between this and the band's earlier, more engagingly experimental work, in the case of the afterparty, "immaculate background music" can become something of a compliment.
I mean, the woman's hair is always immaculate, even after hours spent romping around in her latter job, where logic would dictate one's hair might get at least a little messy.
Meanwhile, the dark-suited government men (among them James Woods, Peter Coyote and Mark Polish) offer immaculate white wings as an incentive to leave and a means of escape.
