Growing up is never easy
On Mama I’m Swollen, as
always, Cursive’s Tim Kasher anguishes. Over dirty, frenzied riffs
and in swirling electronic dirges, he anguishes—then more on beds
of bell and saxophone. Later, he anguishes through whispered
breakdowns of broken falsetto. And as the band has recently picked up
former Engine Down drummer Cornbread Compton, Kasher now anguishes,
too, over skittering time signatures. This is fine, as Mama
spotlights the sad loss of innocence that befalls men who must grow
up, which is obviously, well, anguishing. Kasher has lamented similar
machinations of time before—like life’s “great decay” (on
Burst & Bloom) and adulthood anxiety (on Domestica)—but
here he really owns it, declaring “tearing down mass upward
mobility” as his “manifesto destiny.” The song that supports
that claim (“Caveman”) presents the Neanderthal life as a less
greedy time, and it’s just one place Kasher looks for an out;
others include animalism, hedonism and head-clearing memory loss. But
mostly Mama comes filled with soul-aflame adolescent angst
that generates lines like “I am the joke of existence / I am no
one” with guitar squall to match.