Hear The Mountain Goats' Surprise EP About Ozzy Osbourne

Enlarge this image toggle caption DL Anderson/Courtesy of the artist DL Anderson/Courtesy of the artist

It's not like John Darnielle isn't busy enough this year (or ever): He released the The Mountain Goats' keys-only Goths, published the novel Universal Harvester and has a new podcast with Welcome To Night Vale creator Joseph Fink that will dissect each and every song from The Mountain Goats' All Hail West Texas.

Stream The EP Marsh Witch Visions by The Mountain Goats

But Darnielle is a maniac, and must howl at the moon lest his powers be lessened. Thus, the surprise Marsh Witch Visions EP, which features a "Rain In Soho" demo, but notably it's a throwback to the old-school Mountain Goats style with four acoustic songs about Ozzy Osbourne, complete with a cheeky nod to the Prince of Darkness' blown-out hair days ("Three cans of Aquanet in my graying hair").

Ozzy is a constant in Darnielle's life, as he should be for everyone. "Dedicated to Mike K back in Claremont at whose house I first heard Master Of Reality when I was 16, desperate & high," Darnielle writes on the Bandcamp description. Since then, Darnielle wrote a heartbreaking and triumphant novella inspired by Black Sabbath's Master of Reality, covered "Shot In The Dark" on piano, and shared his passion with a certain broken-up band on Twitter (we still want that collaboration).