Kasher's New Masterpiece

Kasher's New Masterpiece

Matthew Winters

Being called a functioning alcoholic would usually be an insult to the person receiving it, but when the person saying it is Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, in an interview a few years ago, about Tim Kasher of Cursive and The Good Life, you can kind of understand it. Both men, but Kasher especially, have made careers on writing songs that are about drunken nights, bad mistakes and the after effects of what those mistakes can make. Cursive have always been a band full of those kinds of songs, from 2003's The Ugly Organ, an album based on a play written by Kasher, to 2006's masterpiece Happy Hollow, Cursive stuck close to their lyrical and musical roots.

Mama, I'm Swollen, Cursive's 2009 release, doesn't really stray too much from the formula that Cursive created more than a decade ago while most members were just coming out of proto-Cursive band Slowdown Virginia. The self-defacing lyrics about sin and drunken nights are there backed by discordant guitars and pulsing drums, but gone is the electronic and horn elements that dominated Happy Hollow and also the cello that so sweetly accentuated "Ugly Organ's" dense story line. What "Mama, I'm Swollen" does have though is more connection to 2000's critic favorite Domestica and Kasher's side project The Good Life.

The album, from stirring opener "In The Now" with it's shouted repeat line "Don't wanna know what I know / Don't want to live in the now" over guitar lines borrowed from the record Fugazi never wrote to closer "What Have I Done?" that recalls "Inmates" from The Good Life's "Album Of The Year" both of which tell the story of man who cannot quite get something finished, is something to be praised for its bluntness and it's beauty. "From The Hips" and "We're Going To Hell" make "Mama" sound like "Domestica" Pt. Two, but plagiarizing from yourself to make another amazing record isn't always a bad idea.

"Mama, I'm Swollen" isn't Cursive's greatest record, and more likely than not it will be down played as a footnote to an already great catalogue of music from a wonderful indie band.

Originally Published in The WSU Signpost 3/20/09