Cursive have, to me, never been post hardcore. Ever since The Ugly Organ in 2002, I've heard people label them as such but I've never heard it in their sound. Domestica might have been post hardcore, I could see that. The songs were raw, the lyrics were emotional and were screamed as often as sung. Since Domestica though, Cursive have strayed further and further from that genre. Organ saw Cursive doing their best to keep things fresh, and people applaud the album because at the time they had a cellist in tow, but at the same time they've been almost lauded ever since because after the cellist left they refused to replace her, instead opting to adopt a brass ensemble. To be honest, which I tend to be, Cursive have become a better band with almost each new release in my eyes. Domestica and Organ struck me as spotty and gimmicky, as well as poorly planned, though they do both have exemplary tracks. Happy Hollow has been a favorite of mine for a while - it's like a melting pot of nasty riffs and picking on Tim Kasher's part - who, by the way, happens to have one of the best voices (and sexiest beards) in the industry - alongside a brass ensemble that just seems to push the knobs to over eleven or twelve. It was one of those first albums that really made me feel like time was rushing past me. 44 minutes felt like 20 in 14 tracks. Mama, I'm Swollen managed to keep me impressed and intrigued, and it's also a great album, but it just barely doesn't beat it's direct predecessor. What was interesting about Mama was watching Cursive advance as a group again - this time not by growing by numbers, but instead by growing by ideas and shrinking by numbers.
Another three years have passed and Cursive have released their most bare bones record yet, I Am Gemini, but it's also their most well thought out. Gemini is the first time Kasher has made a concept album on purpose. If you would note, every other Cursive album since Domestica has been a concept album, but not necessarily by purpose. The situations in the lyrics were always told from separate characters views, and the subject was always only the same because it was something that Kasher felt passionate about himself, so much so that it was all he felt the need to write about (or, that's my assumption). Following his divorce, Kasher wrote two albums based around the during and aftermath. Being raised in a catholic school, Kasher then wrote two albums about religion. I Am Gemini isn't about religion, or divorce, or anything that we, as listeners and viewers, can see apparently from the basic details of Kasher's life. The concept is, instead, a story that was thought through from the very start to finish, and it makes sense that this would be the next step for Cursive, especially since now that Kasher has got the adolescence out of his veins he can seriously broach an idea, as we've seen from the other screenplays he's written the past few years.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? I Am Gemini comes as a playbill.
As in, it was written for the god damn stage. If you don't know yet, the album follows twin brothers Cassius and Pollock - one an ex-con trying to run from the past, the other a recluse, who has been left undiscovered his entire life. There are quite a few twists and turns in the story and I won't be the guy to spoil it, but here's what I will say: the story is filling, just like the rest of the album.
However, upon starting my first listen of I Am Gemini, I actually found myself quite disappointed. I don't know why, but none of the songs caught my attention at first. It took me a months time to calm down and remember that bands develop for the better to really come back to it and appreciate that Cursive's new release is actually their best yet. A fully thought out concept, and that along side the songs - which grow (This House Alive, Eulogy for No Name), which are tense (Warmer, Warmer, The Cat and Mouse, Wowow), which are destructive (A Birthday Bash), which are hoppin' (The Sun and the Moon, Twin Dragon/Hello Skeleton) and which are fierce (Drunken Birds, Double Dead, Gemini). The album is all around surprising, especially in how Cursive have grown as musicians, and how they've developed their dynamic on song writing. Kasher manages to pick on be insane on most songs while bassist Matt Maginn - who shows how truly badass he is on this release - syncs up with percussionist Cully Symington to bash the fuck out of every song as if they together were a blunt object. I do really applaud their musician ship. I haven't heard a bass and drum duo so well thought out and so in tune with eachother since Morgan Henderson and Mark Gajadhar of The Blood Brothers - who happen to be a post hardcore band. And all of this while rhythm and keyboardist Ted Stevens acts as the centerpiece - providing the themes and really, sort of connecting all the pieces to each song.
That's right. After years of intense conceptual pieces, yelling but not screaming, and being god damn catchy, Cursive have managed to piece together what I can truly call a post hardcore album. And it does the genre justice. These ideas are classic, and yet they are unique. I feel familiar with them, and yet my body wants to dance how it has never danced before. Cursive have proven once more that they are a band whom posses more character, more creativity and more excellence than most bands applauded in the scene today, and for that I thank them. I thank them dearly, for being consistently surprising and different and new while at the same time not terrible. I thank them dearly for being themselves, and for fucks sake, I thank them for
thinking.
Tier: 2 [Playlist]
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Gotta get those forty winks]
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Introducing: Cursive's I Am Gemini, starring Cassius and Pollock]
