In “Narakaloka,” a dying person fears the darkest parts of the afterlife and attempts to change their ways just before death.

Track: “Narakaloka”
Album: New Asian Cinema (1998)

If you’ve only heard the best-known songs by the Mountain Goats, you could pick a worse place to start your deeper research than New Asian Cinema. It’s a five song EP from 1998 that’s reasonably accessible even for people who haven’t yet bought in to the lo-fi world of the early Goats. “Korean Bird Paintings” and “Treetop Song” are instantly recognizable messages about hope in unlikely places. “Golden Jackal Song” and “Cao Dai Blowout” are metaphors, but they aren’t necessarily complicated ones. It’s “Narakaloka” that requires some consideration to decipher.

Naraka is the Hindu equivalent of Hell, and loka loosely translates to “world” or “realm.” From a purely linguistic standpoint, “Narakaloka” is the realm of the afterlife reserved for the worst of the worst. The song is delivered from the perspective of a person who is condemned to death and is concerned with how they’ve lived their life. They’re certainly dying, because even though “the doctor says I’ve got 30 days left at most” is the dark punchline to the song, this isn’t the kind of character that would benefit from lying.

John Darnielle has said at live shows that the song specifically refers to the concept that “Narakaloka” is the part of Hell reserved for those who denied food to the poor in life. Taking that in mind, it’s easy to imagine the character here getting a diagnosis and wondering if their house is in order enough to avoid Naraka. They’re growing cabbages and making French toast with imported cinnamon, but they may not be the sort of person who would have done that beforehand. They won’t be there to see the full fruits of their labor, but they do hope that this little bit of selflessness will spare them in eternity.