The Decemberists leader Colin Meloy has released a lovely new song called “Slint, Spiderland.” He wrote it for the Morning Edition Song Project, for which NPR is asking musicians “to capture life in the era of COVID-19 by writing an original song that describes this turbulent moment.” Meloy’s song, an acoustic ballad that reminds me why I used to listen to Castaways And Cutouts all the time, begins with him watching Breadcrumb Trail, Lance Bangs’ 2014 documentary about Slint’s post-rock lodestar Spiderland.

Here’s what Meloy told NPR about it:

I don’t know that it particularly spoke to the current moment in any way other than it felt completely disconnected from it. Thing is about the lockdown and the quarantine, once we got past the initial [concerns] — like, how to get food, how to teach our kids and do our jobs at the same time — once that pattern had emerged, our lives as a stay-at-home writer and a stay-at-home illustrator were sort of bizarrely normal. … And so I think that was the moment: “Here I am getting lost in watching this documentary. Meanwhile, this thing is happening outside.”

Hear the song below.

And here’s Breadcrumb Trail in case you’re interested: