A long time ago I had this idea that A Natural Death and Desperate Living were sort of parallel albums, at first I wasn't super sure but now I am 100% sure on this.

 

The first hint is the names themselves, "Death" and "Living" are obviously complete opposites. So then I had this crazy idea, well since A Natural Death has more tracks than Desperate Living, what if you subtracted the tracks on AND that weren't full songs, so minus Crow Town, Crickets, Broken Trail, The Beach and Rotting Horse. Now compare them track by track...

​

Cloudwalker and Hyperborea. Cloudwalker obviously has clouds in it, and in Hyperborea he says "endless fields of soft luminous white" which could sound like he's describing clouds and/or snow. There's more to it I will explain in another post.

​

Desperate Living and Murder, "Living" and "Murder" are pretty much the opposite of each other. But there's many of parallels to this one, in Desperate Living he mentions a book, and I believe Nathan once said "Murder" was inspired by a book but I don't remember the name of it, I will post about it later, Both songs mention someone being sold or being held hostage, they both sound like they take place in a western setting.

​

Startling Secrets and Failure of All Things, both songs begin by describing a monstrous creature, both describe it having hearts, "his face is made of hearts" and "Sorry for the sores and holes in my heart". Another opposite, "I am locked in his black hole gaze" and "Won't look at me Won't speak to me".

​

Horse The Song and Face of Bear, both animals.

​

New York City and Science Police, both take place in the city. Remember the police man in the New York City video?

​

Sex Raptor and Shapeshift, both songs are about a girl, both songs start off talking about her legs, "your legs are sweet and look like ivory" and "Grows two legs Opens up its heart An absurd courtship". "Like dinosaurs..." Sex Raptor, get it?

​

The Red Tornado and Between the Trees, this one is hard to explain, but here's a simple opposite between the two, "He's lightning in a bottle tornado in a cage" and "I've lost my mind but the world is open wide"

​

Treasure Train and Golden Mummy Golden Bird, I think the names are obvious, Gold = Treasure.

 

His Purple Majesty and Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding, both are names of someone powerful, and both songs are about a girl about to be raped.

​

Kangarooster Meadows and Big Business, in both songs the titles are spelled out in letters.

​

Metaphysical Crisis and Rape Escape, both songs end with real pianos, both end in unresolved mystery. One says "on a ship of jewels and gold" and the other says "Worthless rings and golden fleeces Worthless fleeces and golden rings".

​

Lif and Arrive, well... Lif doesn't have lyrics, but...

​

There you have it, hard to deny that's whats going on. There's so much more to it I will explain in another post.