Jay Tholen offers more Gospel chiptune and Mount Eerie contemplates mankind’s fragile existence.

After all, grief isn’t rational or given to nice, neat organization.

Heart-breaking music about death; dreamy electronica from shoegaze giants; inspired ’80s pop; plaintive, old-timey folk/country; and goofy country-punk.

Also: King Arthur, Silicon Valley silliness, and the downside of “mobile first” web design.

Put simply, Wind’s Poem is the most haunting album I picked up in 2009.