John Darnielle offers a hopeful song at the end of an album with “The Last Limit of Bhakti.”

Track: “The Last Limit of Bhakti”
Album: Isopanisad Radio Hour (2000)

The temptation is strong to approach “The Last Limit of Bhakti” like a book report. There are so many references to crack here and so many ways to dig in. Isopanisad Radio Hour as an album title is already something to unpack, borrowing a title from the Hindu religious texts but then opening with “Abide With Me,” a hymn with references to the Book of Luke. The album takes a pivot into more familiar Mountain Goats territory with “Born Ready” and “Cobscook Bay” but then has two songs that have nearly impenetrable meanings to the point that John Darnielle makes jokes about them when he plays them live.

It’s an excellent album, but all of that leads up to “The Last Limit of Bhakti” and one must reckon with how we got there. Not every album has a clear theme, especially the shorter EPs, but there is often a consistent tone. This one ends how it began, with a deeply religious song but even more than that, a song about how to live. Bhakti is a term for religious devotion and “The Last Limit of Bhakti” finds a narrator who is prepared to go all the way. “When the world is giving your secrets all away // let me give you cover,” they say, and we question if we have this level of commitment. It’s a pretty personal message, but it’s one that you find in a handful of other Mountain Goats songs. So many narrators are obsessed with the wrong things, what if you could channel that energy in a positive way? It’s hopeful, in that way, and a nice note to head out on.