Labels: Saddle Creek
Review by: Mike Whelan
It’s taken a while but it’s finally happened. Someone has made an album about an album. It’s almost a funny notion, but Cursive probably weren’t laughing when they thought of it, because this album is not romantic, it’s not even sombre, it manages to be more cynical and uplifting than either of these.
With “The Ugly Organ’ Cursive have released one of my favourite albums, it’s like the record I wanted them to make. The seeds were sown more than a year ago with the “Burst and Bloom’ EP, and shortly after this the first green shoots appeared in their split with Eastern Youth, but “The Ugly Organ’ has taken the sound to a new plane. Gone are the Fugazi or Dischord influences of old, they’ve been replaced with something much more unique.
A lot of the songs are about relationships. Tim Kasher though, is clearly a man who holds no romantic notions about life and love. From “Butcher the Song,’ a track about a girl pissed off with her boyfriend (Kasher himself from the sound of things) and his tendency to disguise his feelings in song, to “Driftwood: A Fairy Tale,’ which turns Pinocchio into a naïve hopeless romantic, Kasher shows just how morose he can be. Other tracks like “Art is Hard’ and fast-paced opener “Some Red Handed Slight of Hand’ are Cursive’s damning indictment of music (the imagery of the reverends “sweet and salty sermon” in this last song is not wasted on me).
And while all of this makes Cursive sound like angry young men and women with chips on their collective shoulders, it doesn’t come anywhere near doing this album any sort of justice. While I’ll admit that I’m a huge Cursive fan and, as a result, I might be reviewing this album with rose-tinted earphones, the quality is still unavoidable.
I was actually disappointed the first couple of times I listened to “The Ugly Organ.’ It took a few days before I managed to break through to the oblique attractiveness of tracks like “A Gentlemen Caller’ and “Bloody Murderer.’ The perseverance was more than worth it.
“The Ugly Organ’ is an album with plenty of highlights and a welcome lack of lowlights. In a word, essential.