Cursive

Domestica
Saddle Creek, 2000

Cursive's records are like emo for adults - all the usual heavy guitars and overwrought whining, but with slightly more interesting excuses to feel tortured. The Nebraska band's third album, Domestica, was a concept record tracking a couple's arguments, written while singer Tim Kasher went through a divorce. It brought together Kasher's two lyrical fixations, emotional politics and self-reference, which would be revisited more blatantly on the band's next few releases. On Domestica the two are tangled and it's a surprise to figure out what's going on for the first time. During 'The Martyr' the singer circles in on character flaws like a collector skewering butterflies, before it becomes clear he's singing in someone else's voice and criticising himself. The last few lines are a taunt to Kasher to pen the song itself: "Your sorrow's your goldmine, so write some sad song about me."

Not all the songs are so intricate. Opening track 'The Casualty' bludgeons the speakers with the story of a late-night bedroom stand-off imagined as a poetic war zone where "lovers like brigadiers marching two by two" conjure up "a vacuum of sorrow to swallow up the day". The rest of the tracks speak for themselves, with titles including 'The Game Of Who Needs Who The Most' and 'The Night I Lost The Will To Fight'. The relentless theme of former lovers locked in hatred would be suffocating if the music didn't provide a good jolt: pop melodies strangled by brittle, piercing guitars and rough vocal harmonies.

On Cursive's next two records, Kasher perfected his self-referential lyrics about a miserable songwriter struggling to come up with the requisite pain. The Burst And Bloom EP began with the lyrics: "This unique approach to start an EP, intended to shock, create a mystique/ A cheap strategy to build awareness for the next LP." A year or so later, the first single from album The Ugly Organ was called 'Art Is Hard', where Kasher drove the point home: "Well, here we go again, the art of acting weak/ Fall in love to fail, to boost your CD sales..." It's cynical music sung with an incredible amount of passion. I'm surprised the mix doesn't attract more music critics. Maybe it hits too close to home.