Cursive - Devourer - Red/Black - VINYL LP

Runnner's sophomore full-length, A Welcome Kind of Weakness, emerged from a simultaneous tear in songwriter Noah Weinman's body and life. Written during the months spent bedridden and healing from a torn achilles and the drastic upheaval of a breakup, the 11 songs on this record are Weinman's most bracing, inviting the perceived vulnerability of the album's title willingly. But at the same time, these songs are Runnner's most present, defiant and self-assured, a reminder of the resolve that can come from gracefully accepting submission. Longtime fans of Weinman's likely fell for his signature homespun indie rock, recorded almost exclusively in bedrooms and home studios, where his poignant and self-deprecating lyrics float over beds of banjos, guitars and reverberant horns crescendoing to cathartic peaks. But on A Welcome Kind of Weakness, Weinman soars for the first time in high fidelity. Runnner's first studio record, it recalls the larger-than-life highs of the early aughts rock that Weinman grew up on, bands like Coldplay, Radiohead, and Snow Patrol with their pristine vocal presence, scintillating guitar riffs, and astral synth sparkle. This is rock music in it's most delicious form, music that gave Weinman something to look forward to when he could finally play live again. But as high as the sonic highs may be on A Welcome Kind of Weakness, we also see Weinman struggling gracefully with the questions that emerge from moments of physical and emotional undoing. As he sings about spackling holes in the house he shared with his ex and reckoning with a long span of physical futility, we're reminded, too, of all the spectrums of experience we endure. We are all perpetually pulled between polls-weakness/resolve, nostalgia/presence, powerlessness/control-but it takes a certain bravery to sit in the murky middle long enough to write about it. And in his willingness to b

In 2020, Steve Ciolek's long-running and much loved group The Sidekicks called it a day, and he found himself without a band for the first time in much of his adult life. Ciolek had never stopped writing, but now with endless possibilities ahead he found himself creating at a different pace. As his well of potential songs began to grow, Ciolek brought in some familiar faces to help hone them into an album, recruiting The Sidekicks' Matty Sanders to play drums and Saintseneca mastermind Zac Little to help with writing, recording, and production. Infinite Spring is bursting with that sense of discovery and promise without sacrificing the warmth that's always made Ciolek's songwriting feel so timeless and satisfying. The record feels like an amalgam of his many musical interests, woven together into something unique; throughout, sparse folk intersects with soulful indie, and the intricate arrangements and sweeping hooks of '60s and '70s pop rock overlap with the charming looseness of midwest punk. And just as so many of Ciolek's musical inspirations feel evergreen, so does his lyrical focus falling in love. Album Tracks 1. Angels on the Ground 2. Blue Bower 3. Big Songbirds Don't Cry 4. Good Ghost 5. Dream Dating 6. Long Drive 7. Locket 8. Overrater 9. Infinite Spring 10. Wave Back

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 iconic Omaha group is known for their intensity, ambition, and execution, and has spent 30 years creating a bold discography that's defined as much by it's cathartic sound as it's 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/early '00s moment when the lines between indie rock and post-hardcore began blurring into something altogether new. Albums like Domestica (2000) and The Ugly Organ (2003) became essential touchstones whose echoes can still be heard in new bands today. Devourer, as an expansive new double-album, examines humanity's bottomless capacity for consumption through a series of songs that act like vignettes, driven by frontman Tim Kasher's never-ending appetite for both taking in and creating art.InchI am obsessive about consuming the arts,Inch he explains. InchMusic, 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.Inch Fans have come to expect such heady topics from Cursive, but Devourer sets a new standard.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