Have you ever been at a coffee shop and seen a squeaky clean singer-songwriter rhyming “love” and “up above” and generally being unrealistically sappy? Then you wonder, “What is this guy really thinking?” What if he just got sick of pandering and started using his gorgeous guitar chords and soothing voice to sing about his neuroses and violent impulses instead?
What you would get is Arthur Yoria. The Houston native is the id of the singer-songwriter world, a status cemented by his 2009 album 281 and its songs with colorful titles like “Drunk Piss” and “No Messin’ With My Rectum If You Like My Erection.” Despite the subject matter, Yoria’s instrumentation and voice is rather poppy and catchy.
Now, Yoria is back with his highly entertaining stream-of-consciousness musings. Thank You is one of two EPs he released this week (get the other here). It contains two songs, neither of which pulls punches with the titles “I’m Gonna Take a Swing at Your Head With an Aluminum Bat” and “In Case the Words are Shitty (Jeffrey Lewis).” Aside from the abrasive synthesizer intro, both songs are rather delicate and, well, pretty. That is, if you can get past grotesque lyrics.
Listen for yourself below and download Thank You for free at Yoria’s website.