Record Review: Cursive

by | Feb 29, 2012 | Reviews

Cursive

I Am Gemini

Omaha, NE

“Hard-hitting concept album from the indie rock vets”

Cursive’s seventh full-length album picks up where Mama, I’m Swollen left off, with regards to both sound and subject matter. Although frontman Tim Kasher has always leaned towards the conceptual, this album marks the first time that he had the full story for an album in mind before sitting down to write the 13 tracks on I Am Gemini. While the lyrics on the album continue to touch on some of Kasher’s political and religious views, the tracks deals mainly with the mythology-tinged story of Cassius and Pollock, twin brothers separated at birth.

The two brothers unexpectedly meet in a house during the slow-building and eventually sprawling “This House Alive,” before struggling with each other for the majority of the album amidst a supporting cast of angels, devils and twin sisters conjoined at the head. Although most of the album’s songs blend into one another as a result of the linear story line, the soundtrack of the tale ranges from the poppy rocker “Double Dead” to the sparse, instrumental “This House A Lie” [akin to the orchestral transitions on The Ugly Organ]. The strongest cuts on the album, such as “A Birthday Bash” and “Twin Dragon/Hello Skeleton” find Cursive sticking to what they know best: searing, hard-hitting guitars and Kasher’s intensely sung/yelled lyrics. (Saddle Creek)

Recorded at ARC Studios in Omaha, NE

Produced and Mixed by Matt Bayles at Red Room in Seattle, WA

www.cursivearmy.com