“I’m at my best when I’m at my worst. I’m at my worst when it’s not rehearsed…”
Cursive has reached a point where every kink in the band’s sound has been fine tuned. The group members know exactly what they are doing. They are mature and aged like a fine wine. So it’s apt that Mama, I’m Swollen deals with how we all get drunk off ourselves. Tim Kasher and company touch on all the varying way that inward desires can drive a man down a path of self-destruction to a soundtrack that forces forward each mental state.
The first flaw exposed is denial. Amongst the dissonant butting guitar swells, “In The Now” bursts forth with musical fluidity and edge. The screamed refrain, “Don’t want to live in the now, don’t want to know what I know!” directly evokes the refusal for a person to accept the truth. “From the Hips” deals with hedonism. The lyrics describe wanting nothing more than lustful fulfillment. The sparse music along with the hushed vocals make the man in question seem like a caged beast who has been tamed but is waiting to break out and go wild; so when Kasher sings that “we were better off as animals,” it all makes sense. The furious wall of sound that ensues (complete with brass) is the man’s primal shriek of perceived freedom.
“Donkeys” deals with Pinocchio‘s Pleasure Island, and hence, addresses all of the same issues. It hammers the self-centered refusal to accept responsibility. Cursive hints that this selfishness is preventing so many from truly starting their lives. Even when thing go bad and the people actual turn into asses on the isle they still don’t seem to get it, proclaiming (in a line not short of punning), “we may be donkeys but at least we have a tale to tell.” The deep, sinister backing vocals on the track give the allusion of the devil himself gleefully watching this man fall apart.
The awful primal simplicity of humans is at the core of “Caveman,” which has a country-folk feel to it thanks to a sliding guitar part and gospel-like organ chords. It’s probably fairly easy to deduce what “We’re Going to Hell” is lyrically about. The track is fairly blunt lyrically as well. This directness continues on “Mama, I’m Satan.” The song is the ego’s last stand, with Kasher singing with a tongue-in-cheek bite about how great some people think they are.
By the time “What Have I Done?” rolls around, it’s already too late. The man is a complete failure who is “holed up in a motel in El Paso” where he was supposed to “write [his] Moby Dick.” Instead, he’s wasted the time away and is left to wonder where it had all gone? Where did he go wrong? He’s a “man of no memoirs,” and that’s all he will ever be.
Humans are flawed creatures, but Mama, I’m Swollen is hardly riddled with imperfections. While it may not be a groundbreaking by any means, it seems content being really good at what it is. Perhaps that’s what we all should really be striving for.
Review Score: 7.6
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