"My name's Ed. I work at the cannery over on 6th Street. I got an average life. You know, my wife Gloria and I, we try real hard to support our kids, but with the mortgage, the electric bills, the car payments... sometimes there just isn't enough money. Yeah, we do fun stuff every once in a while. Took the kids to Disneyworld last year. We had a great time, but it ain't cheap. Still haven't paid for it... it's just sittin' there on the credit card. I might never get it paid off. But that's life, ya know. One long, hard struggle to make it. And we got plans that maybe we'll get outta Georgia one day. Go somewhere nicer... start over again. All we need's a little money."

Yeah, Ed, I know how you feel. Life sucks. Every day, we're closer to death. And when we finally do keel over, who's gonna remember we were ever here? Does it even matter? 'Cause no one's gonna remember our kids when they die. And no one's gonna remember theirs, if they aren't already born with eight forms of fatal cancer.

Feeling down? This is just for starters, man, 'cause one listen to I Never Even Asked For Light will have you in a state of depression so deep, you might never come out. Lullaby for the Working Class could not be a more apt band name for these Nebraska boys-- it's music for people like Ed and Gloria. It's music that sums their lives up in three quick minutes of hopelessness and desperation.

By incorporating lots of softly- strummed acoustic guitars, lyrics that stab you in the heart ("Show me how to love/ I'll show you how to beg/ Together we could jump through hoops"), yearning Pavement- esque vocals, and background noises such as passing parades and violent downpours into I Never Even Asked For Light, Lullaby For The Working Class have come right out and said it: There's no point in living.

If you can relate to lyrics like "This pale torso complete with two struggling oars" and "Holding our drinks like wrecked statues," Lullaby For The Working Class will speak to you, and for a brief moment, bring you comfort in knowing that you are not alone.

-Ryan Schreiber