Releasing a concept album is one thing, but including stage directions in the liner notes is where I draw the line.
Much like the stage directions on "The Ugly Organ," Cursive manages to take an otherwise solid album to unnecessary extremes. While most of the record is well written and interesting, a few songs draw into question intentions of singer/songwriter Tim Kasher.
After the success of Cursive's last full-length release, "Domestica," which chronicled the pain Kasher experienced while going through a divorce, Cursive received a lot of attention from critics for the way the band captured the desperation and emotionally unbalanced nature of a failing relationship. As with so many other independent bands that have made an emotionally wrenching album that has drawn a lot of attention, the expectation became clear that band's next album is supposed to maintain the same gloominess and delve further into crafting anthems of depression.
Thus, the concept of "The Ugly Organ" was born.
From the expectations of critics, Kasher felt pressure to write another break-up album, but instead of complying, he decided to write about the stress put on him by critics and fans to stay disheartened. From there, Kasher introduces himself as the character of The Ugly Organist, a musician who is forced to go out every night and emotionally self-destruct onstage. In the track, "Butcher the Song," for example, Kasher confronts his critics with his lyrics, singing, "Who's Tim's latest whore?/ Now, that's not fair/ No -- it's just obscene/ I'll stop speaking for you if you stop speaking for me."
The album's third track, "Art is Hard," insults musicians that fall into the trap of continuously producing overtly dreary music with the hope of producing the ultimate anthem of desperation. From the opening verse, Kasher calls out his peers on their formulaic songwriting when he sings, "Cut it out -- your self-inflicted pain/ Is getting too routine/ The crowds are catching on/ To the self-inflicted song/ Well here we go again/ The art of acting weak/ Fall in love to fail/ To boost your CD sales."
Instrumentally, the album departs from "Domestica" with its heavy reliance on Gretta Cohn cello work and Kasher's newfound ability to play the organ. Although "The Ugly Organ" is the first full-length release to include Cohn on the cello, she is not new to the band as she was on last year's critically acclaimed "Burst and Bloom" EP and on a split record with the Japanese band Eastern Youth. Kasher, on the other hand, has never played organ before on any of their releases, but although the organ blends well into many of the songs, its intro track and segue do little but detract from the album's momentum.
Unlike the cello collaborations on "The Burst and Bloom" EP, many of the songs on "The Ugly Organ" have rhythms that are based around Cohn's driving bow strokes as they lead the band's timbre to something that sounds like a thunderous rock and roll orchestra. Underneath Cohn's lead riffs, the guitars are left to play with the mood of the song, creating and releasing tension in the songs by wandering in and out of key. With most of the emphasis on the cello parts, the guitar is generally much lower in the mix on "The Ugly Organ" than on "Domestica," which may not be very comforting to rhythm guitarist Ted Stevens, who does very little on the album compared to previous releases. Although Bassist Matt Maginn also is much less prominent on this release, there still are a few spots on the album where he gets to shine, such as the outro to "The Recluse" and the breakdown of "Driftwood: A Fairy Tale."
Several of the songs, such as "Art is Hard," "Some Red-Handed Slight of Hand" and "A Gentleman Caller," show how the band has progressed as musicians and keep the listener on their toes with interesting timing and abrupt rhythm changes, while tracks like "Bloody Murderer" and "Sierra" are merely self glorifying rants that may indicate that the band has actually grown more in ego than in talent.
Whatever the case, Cursive's efforts are not in vein, as they manage to keep their sound unique while wisely avoiding a redo of "Domestica." It would be great if all bands would learn that by retracing an old album, it does not make the new album just as good.
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