Cursive's breakout album, 2003's The Ugly Organ, marked a stark change in approach from their debut, 1997's Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes. The manic instrumentation beneath frantic wails of old became a more controlled chaos, focused on thematic elements and presentation as much as angst and rebellion. Their new release, Mama, I'm Swollen, marks the farthest point from their beginning yet. At times droning, Mama misses the mark Cursive had established for themselves as the darlings of literate post-hardcore.
Thematically, Mama, I'm Swollen follows the path of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ideas of man in the state of nature. Rousseau claimed that the epiphany of time (among others) effectively destroyed any hope for humans to be truly happy, and on ""From the Hips,"" lead singer Tim Kasher agrees, singing ""I hate this damn enlightenment / We were better off as animals.""
The fact that the thesis of the album sits in ""From the Hips"" is especially appropriate because that's the one track the rest of the album tries to live up to. At the onset, it sounds like Kasher's time working on his solo/side project The Good Life wore him thin. But while Kasher groans about how intelligence makes everything around you intolerable, the music crescendos to meet a stirring Kasher screaming, ""And I wish that we had never talked / Our hips said it all."" This is the Cursive everybody wants to hear.
Although the rest of the album does its best to leap from the same bridge, it usually just falls flat on its face. Kasher advances his take on the benefits of mindlessness on ""Donkeys"" when he says, ""We may be donkeys, but at least we have a tale to tell."" Despite their efforts to make the song sound interesting through sheer volume, it's still boring.
Mama isn't a total failure, however. In addition to ""From the Hips,"" ""Mama, I'm Satan"" and ""What Have I Done?"" recapture the dissonant guitars and driving melodies that made Cursive so good to begin with and Kasher's signature lyrics that set Cursive apart.
But as personal as Kasher makes his lyrics, it's a mistake to refer to Cursive without recognizing the contributions of everyone else.
Songs like ""Caveman"" highlight the departure of drummer Clint Schnase. In the track, where a rousing time-signature change could completely turn over a promising verse into chorus, the transition sputters in place, waiting too long to do something useful before deciding just to end instead.
That's not to suggest that the current lineup is less capable, but perhaps afforded less creative control in the songwriting process.
Mama, I'm Swollen is a disappointment mainly because it's not clever enough.
Neither musically ambitious nor astutely layered, Mama, I'm Swollen is the highly anticipated opus that rushed its way through an unrealized concept. There are enough bright spots to assure old fans that Cursive still has the potential to return to form, but the five or more songs of filler can't help but disappoint.
