From the last lonely wilderness, the last dark corner of these overlit times, in the camouflage of the common man, Thom Pain takes the stage, fumbling with his heart, squinting into the light. With terrible timing and impeccable regret, over-educated in the wrong ways, and wounded in the right ones, he appears. Teeth bared, as he picks a piece of lint off his suit. Listen to the language writhe, as he tries to say hello. Meet Thom Pain. A man who has only had, by his own reckless reckoning, three or four things happen to him in life.