The quiet “Elijah” finds someone promising to come home to take their place at the table, but who can say if they will?

Track: “Elijah”
Album: The Coroner’s Gambit (2000)

John Darnielle is willing to go deep on album construction when he’s asked to do so specifically. I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, the podcast series from a few years ago about individual albums, was a great resource for this. You have to assume every song choice and every order is deliberate for every artist, but you don’t need to make that assumption here. There is a reason John Darnielle wanted “Elijah” to follow “Jaipur.” I can’t tell you what that reason is, however. I love The Coroner’s Gambit, which feels raw and personal even on songs that are clearly not actually personal like “Insurance Fraud #2,” but I am always astounded at the change in gear between the furious “Jaipur” and the quiet “Elijah.” The best answer I can give you is that it’s abrupt on purpose, as it tells you the kind of album you’re listening to by grinding your expectations down.

There are many stories about Elijah, notably that you are intended to leave a place empty for him at the table. This is referenced in “Elijah,” though many of the specific references beyond this are deeply obscure or potentially unknowable. Kyle Barbour of The Annotated Mountain Goats threw his hands up at “smear the walls with coconut oil” but I chalk this up to John Darnielle’s love of specific references rather than their purpose. This one isn’t really a puzzle box, I don’t think, or at least it primarily isn’t one. It’s a delivery system for a sentiment and one you need to open your heart to before you dig into the rest of The Coroner’s Gambit.