Should we be worried about Jeremy Messersmith?

One had to wonder last week, when Minneapolis' favorite new singer/songwriter of the past half-decade spent a sunny morning showing off one of his favorite new places to take a walk: a graveyard.

Messersmith lives close to the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery, a 157-year-old grassy oasis on the bustling corner of Lake Street and Cedar Avenue. Its residents include at least one character on his latest and most deceptively poppy album, "The Reluctant Graveyard."

"You have to see this one over here," Messersmith said, excitedly approaching a tombstone that was itself entombed by a massive tree stump (the tree had grown around it). "Makes you wonder what the tree-root systems are doing to the people under here."

That thought aside, Messersmith's new album is really not as weird as it seems. The songs about death and caskets and tombstones make better sense when you realize it completes a trilogy of albums. "The Alcatraz Kid," his 2006 debut, was all about youth and escapism. His follow-up, "The Silver City," had more of a middle-aged vibe with songs about moving into the big city, commuting on mass transit and working in cubicles. "The Reluctant Graveyard" brings the trilogy up to life's end. Messersmith is quick to clarify, "It's not like I have any kind of suicidal thoughts." But he does still view it as a personal record.

"It's something we all face," he said. "We've all had friends who died. We've all thought, 'Should I be afraid of death?' It was something I was thinking about quite a bit."

Margaret Andrews, Star Tribune
Jeremy Messersmith

The songs all face death in one way or another. The soft and English-folky "Toussaint Grey, First in Life and Death," is named after one of the cemetery's best-known residents, the first African-American believed to be born in Minneapolis. "Violet," the album's soaring first single, features an abused woman who contemplates violence. The rollicking "Dillinger Eyes" stars a modern-day bank-robber who gets gunned down. The light closing ditty "Tomorrow" might well be the sweetest-sounding reminder that today could be your last.

Despite its dark themes, "The Reluctant Graveyard" is a surprisingly upbeat, melodic, sunny album. "Because the songs are so dark, I thought it would be a good idea to sugarcoat them," he recalled. "I also wanted something that sounded more universal, and not 'indie quirky.' " Messersmith also put together a poppy new band, featuring drummer/keyboardist/co-producer Andy Thompson, cellist/keyboardist Dan Lawonn and local pop-rock vet Brian Tighe (the Hang Ups, the Owls) on guitar.

As we strolled the cemetery last week, Messersmith stopped to contemplate a large area conspicuously devoid of headstones. "It's probably where they piled all the poor people who couldn't afford marked graves," he guessed.

Sounds like a B-side song might be in the works.