Seen as an essay, Death Jokes reaches a thesis in the last two tracks. These songs mourn “the soul atrophy and separation between us” but they mourn with hope that we might be able to move past the coldness of holding passing convictions above the more complicated truths inherent in this life. These are gospel songs. They’re spirituals that have clawed their way out of a culture dead-set on smothering the boldness that a spiritual life fosters. Yet there’s still humor here alongside open-ended questions. “I Don’t Mind,” a cheerful, bleating ode to everything we can’t understand, ends like a music box slowing down as the singer calls up someone who is about to die to ask, What’d you think of life on earth?