Album Review: My Politic '12 Kinds of Lost'

-Harriett

Nashville’s My Politic – Kaston Guffey (vocals, guitar), Nick Pankey (guitar, vocals), Wilson Conroy (Dobro mandolin, vocals), Will Cafaro (upright bass, electric bass), Jen Starinic (fiddle), John Woods (drums) – is set to release their first studio album, 12 Kinds of Lost, on August 25th via The Orchard.  Their Appalachian-infused folk/country sound combines with compelling storytelling and achingly vulnerable vocals on the 12 track collection for a brutally honest look at some of life’s darker and more difficult challenges.

The fear of stagnation meets the fear of risk in “Bored Young Ghost” (“Dreams are too big for a small town kid to own”) and “I Don’t Wanna Run”.  “Loneliness” and “Only Human” tackle coping with the emotional aftermath of lost love and finding a way to move forward from the depression. Alcoholism, addiction, family dysfunction and fear of repeating destructive patterns play out in “Down In Hell”, where the lilting melody seems to signal a quite resignation to the inevitable, and in “Devil’s Playground”.

“News Alone” explores suicide and self-isolation (“Friends are few, by design. They can’t give me up if they don’t know where to find me. But it’s getting hard to watch the news alone. Wish I had someone to cry with beside me”). The album closes with the title track, a sonic and lyrical summation of the human frailties laid bare in the previous songs.
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12 Kinds of Lost is both sadness and beauty and definitely worth a careful listen. I look forward to hearing more from My Politic. You can visit their website to find out more about the album, the band, and their upcoming tour dates.             

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