It’s been only two years since Vicious Losers came out and two prophets of light, as Lonesome Wyatt and The Minister call themselves, already have a new album. They are recording like someone is chasing them. Rich discography is in their pocket. This is their 8th album. The sounds and the style are the same as usual. Those Poor Bastards play primitive and desperate Goth country. Everything revolves around themes of religion, loneliness, apathy, deviant and dark sides of human psyche. Psychology of this duo is basic – they want to dig deep into the banalest things, but they also want to dig deep into the most complex things. They just want to dig deep. There are no taboos. They dare to sing about anything.
Lyrics hit you directly in the head. The narrative is desperate, dark, apocalyptic. Every bone in your body is shaking when you listen to this album. Lonesome Wyatt does not hide his love for horror and Goth literary genre nor his obsession with country music. On the other side, he always questions the tradition.
When you are listening to the verses and the sound of the album Sing It Ugly, you just can’t stay indifferent. You feel raw and vulnerable because their direct approach is so strong. You get the feeling everything is going to fall apart. Human existence is ultimately and immanently unhappy. That despair brings a certain optimism since singing about it makes it less real. Those Poor Bastards are making fun of despair. It is impossible not to observe layers of irony underneath all that terrible human existence.
No Light opens the album with the apocalyptic line The machines they took over. I want to live simple but not simple minded. This is the main message of the album – simplicity in being open minded. Unwanted is a love Goth country song, bursting with sarcasm.
Sorry For Everything and Evil Selfish Fool are cool ballades. Ten Ton Hammer is the most desperate one. Lonesome Wyatt experiments with his dark vocal here more than anywhere else. No No No represents the essence of their artistry: They make you think a certain way, you have to compromise the words you say, man who would ever want to fit, with all them finger fuckin hypocrites?
That’s it, ladies and gentlemen. That is Those Poor Bastards.
