Zac Little doesn’t claim to be an expert on things like physics or where we go when the light goes out for good, but that doesn’t stop him from exploring such matters on Saintseneca’s excellent third album, Such Things.

The record seems in some ways like a giant rumination on mortality and where humans fit into the universe. Reached in a tour van that’s headed to Houston, the singer-guitarist doesn’t deny that. But because he’s never been one to spell out his intentions as a songwriter, he doesn’t necessarily confirm that reading as accurate, either.

“In a lot of ways I’m trying to understand things by looking at them through a scientific lens,” Little carefully offers. “That’s a way of, I don’t know, trying to see things a little more objectively, or trying to understand things on a mental level.”

Asked why death was on his mind, Saintseneca’s frontman at first politely deflects, noting we all wonder every now and then when it’s going to end.

Pushed, he comes back with: “Yes, I dunno, maybe that’s one way of coping with the question of mortality—to deal with it in whatever way that you can, whether it’s music or looking at it through a scientific lens.”

Such Things gives listeners plenty to think about. The title track has Little singing “Now I sleep adrift this shiftless vessel/I’ll never keep the ghost inside the gristle,” while on “The Awefull Yawn” he asks, “What do you live on?/If you live beyond?” And the ruminating doesn’t stop there, whether in the lines “My sole solace is/My soulless husk destined to disintegrate” from “Lazarus”, or in “And if you ever really died/I would be surprised” from “How Many Blankets Are in the World?”.

Heavy as all that is, Such Things is anything but depressing.

From a production standpoint, the record is all about the small details; witness the way the drums thunder off in the distance in “Lazarus” right before what may or may not be a small army of cellists roars in.

“I’ve always been intrigued by making the sorts of sounds on albums that aren’t immediately identifiable,” Little says. “Or if they are, maybe you blend them with something that makes it sound more unique than just an acoustic guitar or mandolin. When you marry something to something else so it becomes a hybrid or composite of the two things, that gives you something that’s, hopefully, more intriguing.”

On a larger scale, Such Things finds Saintseneca continuing to veer away from its DIY folk-rock beginnings, dabbling in sunrise psychedelia (“Rare Form”), ghost-town Americana (“The All Full On”), and percussion-splattered indie rock (“Maya 31”).

“I was after a real full spectrum on the album,” Little reveals. “It’s nice to have a wall of sound, atmosphere, and textures. But then I wanted to also ground that with things that were really live—just people in a room making sounds together.

“A big part of this was that I never felt content being constrained to one form or one particular sound,” he continues. “I initially started Saintseneca with people I went to high school with and played in rock bands with, and I felt really boxed in. I more admired the Beatles for having such a broad spectrum of sounds and writing in so many different styles.”

And, presumably, for not being afraid to ask big questions.

Saintseneca plays the Cobalt on Sunday (January 31).