Artist: Cursive
Album: Mama, I’m Swollen
Genre: Indie
Label: Saddle Creek
 

Tracks:
1. In The Now
2. From The Hips 
3. I Couldn’t Love You 
4. Donkeys
5. Caveman
6. We’re Going To Hell 
7. Mama, I’m Satan 
8. Let Me Up
9. Mama, I’m Swollen
10. What Have I Done?

Slow jams about going to hell, Pinocchio references, and a hardy amount of innuendo are all things that you’ll find on Mama, I’m Swollen. My first reaction to the album was that it reminded me of The Vines. It reminded me of them a lot, actually. The album, simply put, is ten tracks of weird, chilled out songs that probably sound even weirder under the influence (which I’m willing to bet they were when they wrote some of them).

Things get rolling pretty quickly with the first track, “In The Now,” which uses catchy repetition that’s bound to get caught in your head. The song has a good amount of energy that carries over into the next couple tracks, but unfortunately dwindles thereafter.

“I Couldn’t Love You,” the third track on the album, was one of my least favorite on the album; this is really too bad, because it definitely had potential. The problem was that the vocalist sounded like he was pushing his voice too far and didn’t always hit the notes he was shooting for. It wasn’t like that in any other of the songs, which almost made me think he was trying to go for some effect that didn’t play out in the end.

The album grows increasingly strange with each song. A little too strange, I think. “Donkeys,” for example, was just this odd tale of escapism, with a very unexpected Pinocchio reference, that tended to creep me out more than anything else. It didn’t really even feel like a song. Some people are going to like this, but those some people are definitely not most people. And those some people probably also habitual marijuana users. Not to sound like a prude or anything, but it’s probably the only way you’ll get a kick out of this; I sure didn’t.

*Written By: Kyle Viana*
Score: 6.5/10

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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