I honestly (and worryingly) cannot remember how I got into Cursive. It must have happened in 2006, based on the fact I bought three of their albums that year and saw them at Pukkelpop. I came back from Australia that year, so I imagine Australian Kate had turned me onto them; she seemed to know an awful lot about good bands. That said, I know the first time I heard them. It was on a mixtape given to me by Hugh (second mention today!) in 2004, but the song was Gentleman Caller. For some reason, at that time, it did nothing for me. I now know it's a great song from one of my all-time favourite albums. I wonder had he put Some Red Handed Slight of Hand or Art is Hard if I'd have gone mad for them straight away. Still, better late than never.
However it happened, I became a big fan of Cursive. I've kept up with their albums since then and enjoyed them varying amounts. Happy Hollow had some great moments but Mama, I'm Swollen I struggled with. Needless to say, I pre-ordered the picture disc of their latest album from Big Scary Monsters when it was announced back in January (the downside being the other cds I ordered didn't get posted until the LP came out. I'd bought the new Kevin Devine album in the same order so didn't have it when he toured last. Luckily he's out on the road supporting Cursive this week). And it is a lovely picture disc at that. Limited to 500 copies and numbered.
As I've said before, I'm a sucker for a concept album, and Cursive do know how to write one; Domestica and Happy Hollow were brilliant and very good, respectively. I Am Gemini has the tunes to carry the concept, even if I didn't quite follow it the first time through. The songs are mostly pretty short, but they've always had a couple of toes in the punk pot so it works.
I'm not sure how well the songs will stand up by themselves without the rest of the record. Not that they're not good, but because the concept is such a big part of the album. I guess I'll find out when I see Cursive on Saturday. I'm pretty excited about this. It's only my second time seeing them; I missed a few tours over the last few years and couldn't go to the London show on Saturday just gone, so I'm heading to Birmingham instead. I'm pretty sure it'll be worth the effort. Hopefully live some of the songs will come into their own, I think plenty of them have the potential.
Format: 12" picture disc, insert, numbered
Tracks: 13
Cost: £13.50 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 08/03/12
Colour: picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no
