The Ugly Organ＜限定盤/Organ Splatter Vinyl＞

アルバムの冒頭、狂気じみたイントロとカーニバルの呼び込みのような叫びで始まる本作はリスナーの耳に瞬く間に刻み込まれ、Cursiveを無視できない存在へと確立しました。非常に知的で統一感のある作品であり、ライナーノーツでは楽曲をまるで舞台劇のように、舞台指示付きで展開しています。多様なサウンドスケープにより、アルバムはThe New York Timesの「Sunday Arts & Leisure」セクションの表紙を飾り(同紙は本作を「一つの音楽劇として構想された、謎と意外性に満ちた素晴らしいコレクション」と評しています)、また数多くの年末ベストリストにも名を連ねました。

Whereas 2000's Domestica explored the intense pain of Tim Kasher's divorce, The Ugly Organ is a tale of empty sex, overwrought melodrama, and metaphors of which the album's title is only the first. Kasher likes making you feel queasy, and Cursive backs him up with unpredictable instrumental turns. "Butcher the Song" could be about a lot of things, but it's definitely not happy, and its instrumentation lurches in stops and rushing starts like a drivetrain gone bad. "Art Is Hard" is much louder. "Keep turning out those hits! Till it's all the same old sh*t!" The clattering guitars shoot backward at Cursive's louder roots, but the knifing lyrics stab wildly at fans, the band, the industry -- any target available. Kasher and company are similarly restless throughout The Ugly Organ, and that sentiment makes the album both rewarding and frustrating. They're capable of great beauty, particularly in the sure hand of cellist Gretta Cohn, who first appeared on the Burst and Bloom EP but is a true force here. She adds a soaring melody to "Driftwood: A Fairy Tale," making it sound like Spoon with a fuller lineup. ~ Johnny Loftus