THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Very few bands manage to last decades, and for the ones that do, it’s often easy to settle down and get a little too comfortable. But there’s nothing comfortable about Devourer, the explosive new album from Cursive. The Omaha group are known for their intensity, ambition, and execution, and have spent 30 years creating a bold discography that’s defined as much by its cathartic sound as its weighty, challenging lyrical themes. And Devourer is as daring as ever. Full of intense and incisive songs, the album proves exactly why Cursive have been so influential and enduring – and why they remain so vital today.
In the years since their 1995 formation, Cursive developed into one of the most important groups to emerge from the late-’90s era when the lines between indie-rock and post-hardcore began blurring into something new. Albums like Domestica (2000) and The Ugly Organ (2003) became essential touchstones whose echoes can still be heard today. The pull of nostalgia can be strong over time, but Cursive’s work has often felt like a rejection of those comfort zones; the band has continually pushed themselves, with frontman Tim Kasher’s artistic restlessness steering them ahead. In fact, for Kasher, whose pointed observations always begin with looking inward first, it was an interrogation of this voracious creativity that planted the seeds of Devourer.
“I am obsessive about consuming the arts,” he explains. “Music, film, literature. I’ve come to recognize that I devour all of these art forms then, in turn, create my own versions of these things and spew them out onto the world. It’s positive; you’re part of an ecosystem. But I quickly recognized that the term, Devourer, may also embody something gnarly, sinister.” Devourer delves into that darker space. The characters populating the album have bottomless capacities for consumption, whether it’s resources, material goods, art, or even each other. Then they are consumed by larger forces, whether it’s humanity, Earth, dreams, time, or life itself. “Maybe a better word for it is imperialism,” Kasher says. “But it’s in many different forms. It’s not just the political. It’s personal imperialism and the imperialism of relationships, the way we imperialize one another, even ourselves.”
Fans have come to expect such heady topics from Cursive, but Devourer sets a new standard. The glibness of the First World toward the problems of others. The eternal struggle to stay on the straight and narrow. The eager acolytes exploited by their leaders. How anxiety can compound with age. How self-expression can warp into self-indulgence. Beginning with Botch Job, a propulsive banger shaking with anxiety and regret, the album seldom relents. Songs like The Avalanche of Our Demise, What The Fuck, Bloodbather, Consumers and The Age of Impotence hit hard, hooking listeners with the unique blend of deep melody and discordant sounds Cursive does so well. Even as songs like Up and Away, Imposturing and Dead End Days lean more into a poppier sound — or Dark Star and The Loss tone down the intensity — the album’s underlying disquiet remains. But as always, Cursive are here to wail, not wallow. As Kasher sings in Bloodbather, “Life’s an abscess or apple pie / So shut those demons up / And devour your slice.”
Devourer being filled to the brim thematically and musically is unsurprising, considering Kasher wrote an astounding 69 compositions after songwriting began in the fall of 2020. About 20 made it to the practice space, with a curated 13 ending up on the final album. Wrangling it all at Omaha’s ARC Studios was Marc Jacob Hudson, who co-produced the album with the band after running live sound on Cursive’s recent tours. Hudson’s lengthy discography includes working with Against Me!, Thursday and Fireworks, among others, but the musical touchstones he shares with Cursive sealed the deal. “We just got along well and had this kind of shared music history that I found so comforting,” Kasher says. “We were introduced to music in similar ways and, being the same age, share a musical knowledge. It was just so fun and refreshing.”
Now seven members strong (“We seem to be collecting band members over the years,” Kasher jokes), Cursive had a large musical toolbox to use on Devourer. Beyond the core trio of singer-guitarist Kasher, bassist Matt Maginn, and guitarist Ted Stevens, there’s keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Newbery, cellist Megan Siebe, recording/touring drummer Pat Oakes and founding drummer Clint Schnase (the two trade drumming duties across Devourer, but join forces for a two-pronged percussive force in Rookie).
While Cursive’s music hasn’t gotten any more comfortable, perhaps it’s being released into a world that’s at least a little more shaped in their image. Devourer sounds urgent and fresh, the work of a band still experimenting, still hungering to find new creative heights. On album highlight Consumers, the protagonist bemoans, “I saw our future and I want to go back.” But Cursive are only moving forward.”
