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Where experimentation with layered instruments enhanced the grandness of "Happy Hollow," here it's taken one step overboard with additional flute, clarinets, and violin arrangements added on top of the supplementary horn section, to the point of making this their lightest, earthiest release to date.
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Lyrically, frontman Tim Kasher never misses a step (see the men-as-animals 'From the Hips' and 'Donkeys'), proving once again why he's among indie rock's greats.
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Wracked with doubt, contradiction and existential despair, Mama, I’m Swollen strikes out as a weighty, superbly realised endeavour which, for all its oppressive nature, is as eminently listenable and brave an album as any the band have produced.
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Diehard fans will continue to bray for "The Ugly Organ 2," but Swollen features better songs, stronger playing, and Dylan-level lyrics, making it the band's most cohesive work to date.
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Kasher is back to the microscope and black light, using willful musical twists to tear apart his own thirtysomething hypocrisy on this ambitious, kinda-grossly-titled sixth CD.
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Although the album drags in its back third, Mama, I’m Swollen is a strong addition to Cursive’s catalog.
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Cursive's seventh LP, Mama, I'm Swollen, is just as transgressive as it is familiar.
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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.
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The songs were full of meaning and memories.
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Under The RadarYou can pretty much count on Cursive for a solid album, one that doesn't reinvent their wheel per se, but at least attacks each new batch of songs with little creative restraint, dressing up Kasher's musings in an ornamental, anthemic, and always visceral package. [Spring 2009, p.70]
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The key word is ‘almost’, because what could have been mawkish and naive is instead deliciously raw, an album for when all else fails.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 17
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Mixed: 0 out of 17
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Negative: 2 out of 17
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Jun 26, 2019idk porque las personas no le dan tan buena puntuacion.... esta bien trabajado esto
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JesseTMar 17, 2009I am a long time fan of Cursive and I think this album is excellent.
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beausMar 14, 2009