Burning everything down isn’t always a bad thing, John Darnielle tells us in “Going Invisible 2.”

Track: “Going Invisible 2”
Album: In League with Dragons (2019)

You don’t need me to tell you what a two on the end of a song title means, but it is interesting that not all of them have available prequels. “Insurance Fraud #2” doesn’t have a #1, it’s titled that way because it’s the second take and John Darnielle liked the train sounds so much that he used the second take as the official one. That’s mostly trivia and most of the time the two is meant to show you this is part of a series.

The first “Going Invisible” is an unreleased song from Get Lonely, with lines like “but who’d smile back at a face like that.” John Darnielle sings very high on it, giving a distance and a loneliness to what’s already a sad song, and the character feels right at home on Get Lonely even if it didn’t make the final track list. The sequel borrows even more than the sequel songs usually do. The original chorus talks about breaking something and sweeping the pieces away. The sequel is ready to burn it all down, today, and sweep the ashes away.

“I’m gonna break something” is a small threat. It might be a serious one, but it pales when compared to “I’m gonna burn it all down today.” This is the escalation that comes with time, but it also reflects the different tone of the two albums. Get Lonely can be a difficult listen in the wrong headspace. The characters are dealing with real fear and they’re extremely close to the sources. In League with Dragons is John Darnielle revisiting his entire catalog, and, by extension, his entire life. It’s more palatable in this form. Not better or worse, but a moment that builds to triumphant destruction rather than the despondent kind.