Modern Jesus

In an interview with NPR, lead singer John Gourley explained that the message of the song as a whole was to simply say that it is better to have faith in yourself than in God. Gourley claims that he would rather spend time trying to improve his life on Earth than spend time hoping that his life will magically be improved.

This song, like many Portugal. The Man tunes, features the theme of atheism or not having strict beliefs in a certain line of faith. In this point of the album, the narrator starts to embrace his “evilness” as he concludes that he can’t live a righteous life.

"We were in El Paso, Texas, we’re going to make the record ourselves, we’re going to self produce, but you get a call that Danger Mouse wants to check it out, you have to do it. He’s one of those kind of iconic producers of today.

Visconte would get up and he’d play the bass with Bowie. That’s really important in a producer — a producer that can step up and play a keyboard, play a bass, play a guitar and help you with things, instead of just saying ‘I think this could be better.’

Take “Modern Jesus” for example. He just stood up at one point and said ‘Man, I think I got something,’ and he played the keyboard hook in that song."

—John Gourley, wbur