I have much respect for Daniel Higgs. His music, his tattooing, his politics, his art … I’ve gone into it previously — Growing up, his minimal, transcendent raga-like Dischord post-hardcore group Lungfish was one of the essential bands in my core musical cosmology: The work’s incantatory, questing, spiritual, punk. (It offered such an essential, heady, muscular outlet for those of us who were sick of hardcore’s more dude-ish atmosphere.) Lungfish has never officially called it quits, but haven’t released anything since 2005′s Feral Hymns. Otherwise, Higgs has been pursuing excellent, eccentric solo work, using long-neck banjo, jew’s harp, crusty noise, organ drone, bird songs, art, alchemy, and that authoritative voice to bring us his personal Gospel/life philosophy (check out Ancestral Songs). After a few home-recorded (to cassette) collections, his new gathering of “song seeds,” the meditative, unruly Say God, was produced by Dave Sitek, who thankfully keeps things spare and spacious (though he does clean it up a bit). Higgs lays out some of Say‘s major themes in the hypnotic opening sermon “Hoofprints On The Ceiling Of Your Mind.” Holy Bible time.

• Daniel Higgs – “Hoofprints On The Ceiling Of Your Mind”Download

Say God:

01 “Hoofprints On The Ceiling Of Your Mind”
02 “Song For Azariah”
03 “Say God”
04 “A Message From The Beautiful”
05 “Root & Bough”
06 “Jewel Of The East”
07 “Tumble Down”
08 “Christ Among Us”

Say God is out 5/18 via Thrill Jockey. It’s a moving cycle of songs, even for those of us who don’t usually pray.