Rock/pop

Emotional torment living in the slums. Brutality at the hands of homophobic police. Blatant thoughts of suicide. Paul Gonzenbach doesn't hold back in his lyrics, probably because he thinks people don't pay attention. "It's easier to lie to an audience when nobody's listening," the melancholic Jim Yoshii Pile-Up songwriter moans in "Jailhouse Rock." He's actually using a crafted image of a performer playing to a crowd in a prison ("You will spend the next 10 years/ working out the last six months"), but one can't help but draw parallels to the singer and his actual audience. After all, the San Francisco indie quintet drapes its despair in gently beautiful arrangements and, on the new Picks Us Apart (Absolutely Kosher), driving dance rhythms; it's easy to just bob your head and ignore the dark side. Those who do pay attention will find Gonzenbach writes some of the most burningly confessional words this side of Morrissey, but not in such a sardonic, self-parodying way. Rather, he draws empathy moreso than mockery. On "Thanksgiving Grey," he muses, "There's so many more of us than there are of them/ an easy target when I inevitably miss the mark." It's dark and heavy stuff, but presents a touching, honest picture of human despondency, one that could only be told by somebody who's lived through it. Gonzenbach obviously has, and Picks is a work that will offer comfort to those who can relate.

Sun., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $8, with Racecar and Foosa, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, www.thekhyber.com.