(Photo from Brooklyn Vegan)

Listen to “Genesis 3:23” off the upcoming Mountain Goats album, The Life Of The World To Come (4AD). According to the press release:

Somewhere in between 2007 and 2009 the same stuff started happening in John Darnielle’s life that happens in everybody else’s life: some people got sick, and some people stayed sick, and some people died young, and John started doing what he does when things go south, i.e., turning to old religious texts both musical & otherwise and trying to take comfort in creeds and prayers that he can’t wholly buy into. In what friends (wrongly, in John’s opinion) thought an excessive gesture, he bought an Amy Grant box set. He learned about an amazing songwriter named Rich Mullins, who largely gets overlooked by people who don’t listen to Christian music, and he listened to Vaisnava Kirtans, and he listened to Yolanda Adams. He played hymns when he could, and he prayed the odd prayers of the faithless, and then sat down and wrote songs about what happens when you feel sick in your spirit but you’re not sure if “spirit” is really a meaningful term.

This was all done while infrequently blogging about metal.

Then go see the tour.

Mountain Goats, 2009 Fall-Winter tour

November
4 – Ladies Literary Club (Calvin College), Grand Rapids, MI
5 – the Metro, Chicago, IL
6 – High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
7 – Cedar Cultural Centre, Minneapolis, MN
10 – the Showbox, Seattle, WA
11 – Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
14 – the Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
15 – Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA
18 – Antones, Austin, TX
19 – Granada Theater, Dallas TX
20 – Mercy Lounge, Nashville TN
21 – the Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA
23 – the Social, Orlando, FL
24 – Café 11, St. Augustine, FL
27 – 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
28 – Theater of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
29 – Wilbur Theatre, Boston MA

December
1 – Webster Hall, New York, NY
2 – Bell House, Brooklyn, NY