Q: The new album feels current, very dark but funny, especially on songs like "Palestine Texas," "Zombie Land" and "Fear Country." I love that line, "They don't make imposters like John Wayne anymore." Should we laugh or cry? And how recent is this work?

A: It's meant as a sonic Rorschach test. I'm really curious about the way people react to this place where comedy and tragedy collide. There are gags in almost every line. Actually, I started writing this stuff 10 years ago. And the retrospect has been in the works for the last couple of years. It seems I've always written about how it feels to be alive where we are now. I feel like we've come to the culmination of a really dark place.