On some level, I think it’s about trying to figure out mortality, to understand death. The mummies are a good entry point to exploring what it’s all about. At first, I imagined it was not the best thing for a young creature. But she’s taught me a lot of stuff. Your recent songs deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the pitfalls of the Bush administration, and a general malaise with the status quo. Are you a fatalistic person by nature? I hear all the time that our songs are bleak and fatalistic. I feel there’s a lot of hope in what we’re talking about. I wouldn’t bother writing a song about giving up — that’s a waste of time. There’s an honest discussion, but that doesn’t mean it’s fatalistic. I’m not turning my daughter into a radical, but I won’t lie to her. You know what world we’re living in. I grew up in an apocalyptic sect of Christianity. And even though I don’t follow the belief system any longer, it affects how I see the world. It left me feeling superstitious. Hope may seem like a weak approach but there’s a lot of power in it. What are your feelings about the current presidential candidates? I don’t trust the system, as it stands. We don’t have a representative government. People who have enough money to get power cannot represent people who don’t have money. That said, I would go with Barack Obama. His transparency, his policies, his stand on the war make sense to me. I trust him more. But I don’t consider myself political. I just write about whatever is on my mind, what’s going on around me. I don’t think you can write a song now that has the same power as a Molotov cocktail.