"The girls just want a sweet melody," sings Eef Barzelay in "The Girls Don't Care," a meaty Latin-tinged highlight from the former Clem Snide frontman's second solo album, Lose Big. Barzelay is one of alt-country's most underrated satirists. On his band's last album, he chided killers who read Salinger, pedophiles doing "their best rendition of 'You've Got a Friend'," and people who "aren't as weird as they'd like [you] to think." But he never looks down on his subjects. "I'm not trying to be judgmental," he says. "I'm trying to call people on their bullshit. People need to get over themselves." Lose Big is a dark record, fixated on the afterlife. Still, Barzelay hasn't lost hope: "Show me the bright side," he sings. "And I'll look till my eyes catch fire."
