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Album Reviews
Album Review: Cursive – Mama, I’m Swollen (Saddle Creek)
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 1 June 2009
“Don’t wanna live in the now, don’t wanna know what I know”, insists Cursive frontman Tim Kasher, in an opening track that promises this album will be as harsh, confrontational and aggressive as its brilliant predecessor ‘Happy Hollow’. Alas, this isn’t quite the case. ‘Mama, I’m Swollen’, Cursive’s sixth offering, is a disappointingly subdued affair. It packs lyrics that are as robust and spiteful as Cursive will ever get – “I’ve been disciplined by religion, by fear/so I can’t quite seem to keep my thoughts pure/I’ve a hunger for the deviant and a thirst for worst” – but, unfortunately, they lack any real sort of delivery, and fall short of genuine conviction. Kasher just seems too… well, smug and satisfied, rather than discontent and irritated. ‘We’re Going To Hell’ is passive-aggressive and airy, and while there are brighter, more pleasing moments on the album, such as the frustrated lull of ‘Mama, I’m Satan’, the disappointing unfortunately outweighs the good. With a lack of clear direction and a second-rate sort of laziness that ties the album together, this is a sub-standard turn from a usually-stellar band who are definitely at their best when angry – and expressing that emotion to its fullest. TW
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