Make what you will of the title for Sun Kil Moon singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek’s third album in less than a year: While he's never kept his fondness for the Big Easy a secret, Kozelek decided on the name after seeing a poster for rap duo $uicideboy$’s I Want to Die in New Orleans LP. That mix of possible total sincerity, possible casual flippancy permeates so much of his music, and has inspired endless discussion among his fans and detractors. Despite Kozelek's songwriting style—typically a protracted stream-of-consciousness first-person observation—there’s no shortage of opportunities to read between the lines on this record, which was made with drummer Jim White (of Dirty Three) and Donny McCaslin (saxophonist/bandleader on David Bowie’s Blackstar). “If I die eating oysters and crawfish, know that I died happy,” Kozelek sing-speaks in “Cows,” just after grappling with the humanist concerns around consuming an animal’s flesh. To give us a little more insight, he walked Apple Music through each track's genesis. “Coyote” "These were the only lyrics I brought to the sessions: a lengthy piece mostly about my girlfriend thinking that there was a gas leak in my home and then deciding it was a skunk and wanting me to do something about it." “Day in America” "This song came about when Jim White walked into the studio and told us the news about the Parkland shooting while I was in the middle of recording some wordless vocal harmonies to Donny's sax. We stopped recording at that point while we discussed gun violence in America. I decided that the piece of music we were working on would be a tribute to the victims of the shooting. The words were written and sung that day, and I believe the song was released 24 to 48 hours after the shooting.” “L-48” “This was inspired by a 1930s Gibson L-48 guitar that I'd used to record a solo album I'd also been working on throughout 2018. I wanted a challenge; it's possibly the worst-sounding guitar I own. I was determined to use it at some point and to make it sound beautiful, which I believe I accomplished. Though the guitar was not used on I Also Want to Die in New Orleans, it made it into the lyrics of this song.” “Cows" "Pianist Chris Connolly joined us for that one. The tone and rhythm of my singing was inspired by Jim's prodding kick drum. The lyrics were triggered by reading Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, where he references cows in a section of the book called 'The Voluntary Beggar.' His words got my mind exploding with visuals of seeing cows peacefully grazing along the roads throughout the world during my travels.” “I'm Not Laughing at You" "The words to this were recorded after a one-off concert in Genk, Belgium, based on actual conversations I've had with various people during my travels over the last 26 years—everyone from hotel employees to people at a street fair. The words are basically about my perspective of what I think the rest of the world's perspective is about the USA." "Couch Potato" "Jim White was telling us what the elements of a 'hit' are. At some point he told us to play a 'middle eight.' I had no idea what he meant, so I played off of what Donny and he were playing. The words were sparked by conversations I'd been having about the homeless situation in San Francisco and also political things like border control." "Bay of Kotor" "The words here were written during my trip to Montenegro. The maids at the hotel there were very kind and caring, and I'll remember them and my peaceful days in Kotor for the rest of my life.”