Finally, after nine years, Poor Man’s Poison is finally releasing a new album, The Great Big Lie. Unfortunately, it’s only two songs and an outro. Despite it being incredibly short, it’s amazing, which we’ve come to expect from the band.

The first track, Let’s Go, is a certified banger. Its beat is slow but somehow upbeat at the same time, almost with a sinister feel. Typically the instrumentals are just the two guitars, mandolin, and bass, but this song has a mix of new instruments like horns and a banjo. Like always, the writing is phenomenal with a strong message and callbacks to older songs like Feed the Machine and Give and Take. 

The general message behind the song seems to be that the world we live in is just one big lie, hence the name of the album. This could of course come down to personal interpretation, but that’s just what I think.   

The second song, The Mask and the Mirror is a bit more serious, and a lot less catchy. Despite this, it is still enjoyable. You still get Ryan’s amazing vocals and the simple but perfect instrumental. It’s ok, but unlike some of their other slower songs, this doesn’t really have a hook, which is a bit disappointing. If it had a hook like Hey Mister or Greedy Man, I think it could’ve done a lot better. 

The outro, Vamos!, is very confusing. It’s just a dreary stringed instrumental with someone, I assume the lead singer Ryan, talking about second guessing the way he portrays himself to the world. I’m not sure what the message behind this was or if it was really what goes on in this person’s mind, but I just thought it was a strange way to end.

The two songs on this album were good, but I just wish there was a little bit more. Poor Man’s Poison is amazing and wildly underrated. I hope they start to release more music again because they made so many amazing songs that really need more attention. I would recommend listening to Let’s Go, but not really the other two. Instead, I’d recommend checking out their older stuff, I promise you won’t be disappointed.