The Ugly Organ

Following a brief break-up, Cursive returned with the release of their third studio album Domestica in June 2000.[1][2] It saw the introduction of new guitarist Ted Stevens, previously of Lullaby for the Working Class; he had replaced Stephen Pederson, who went to university.[1] After this, frontman Tim Kasher formed the Good Life, who released their debut album Novena on a Nocturn in late 2000.[1][3] In July 2001, Cursive released the Burst and Bloom EP, which featured the addition of cellist Gretta Cohn.[1][4] The release was used to showcase a new sound for the band, which they expected to expand upon on their next album.[5]

In March and April 2002, Cursive toured across Europe with the Appleseed Cast.[6] Cursive became exhausted while on tour, with Kasher sustaining a collapsed lung in June 2002.[7][8] As a result of this, the band cancelled the remainder of their tour dates, and began writing new material.[7] The Ugly Organ was recorded as Presto! in Lincoln, Nebraska, with Mike Mogis and Kasher as producers; Mike and his brother AJ Mogis served as engineers. Doug Van Sloun mastered the album at Studio B in Omaha, Nebraska.[9]

The Ugly Organ is an art rock, indie rock and post-punk album, and has been compared to Pornography (1982) by the Cure and The Flowers of Romance (1981) by Public Image Ltd.[10][11] It is a three-act concept album about the main character the Ugly Organist as they struggle through love and life.[7][12] The album's liner notes are written in the vein of a script as stage direction are mentioned next to every song.[7][13] The album plays as a continuous entity, with interludes and segues between the tracks.[11] In contrast to Domestica, which was written solely by Kasher, Stevens co-wrote some of the material on The Ugly Organ with Kasher.[14] Noel Murray of The A.V. Club suggested that Stevens' prior experience in Lullaby for the Working Class where he worked with "long, multi-part compositions surely helped in shaping The Ugly Organ's complex structure".[10]

Bassist Matt Maginn said the band intentionally "stepped back" in order to "play a broader scope of sounds and style and still sound like Cursive."[13] Mogis struggled with Cohn's cello sitting alongside other instruments, before he realised it would be better used as a counterpart to the guitars and Kasher's vocals.[15] The band were aided by additional musicians: Chris Acker playing trombone on "Art Is Hard" and "A Gentleman Caller"; Jenny Lewis singing additional vocals on "The Recluse", "Bloody Murderer", and "Sierra"; and Mogis contributed vibraphone on "The Recluse", keyboard on "Butcher the Song", bells on "Bloody Murderer", and guitar on "Sierra". "Staying Alive" features a choir consisting of Clark Baechle, Todd Baechle, Julee Dunekacke, Rob Hawkins, Alisa Heinzman, Renee Ledesma Hoover, Alex McManus, AJ Mogis, Conor Oberst, and Sara Wilson.[9]

The album's opening track, "The Ugly Organist", is an ambient prelude, acting as the titular character's theme song.[7][16] It opens with quiet sounds of conversations, alongside an organ, before ending with a carnival barker.[16] In "Some Red-Handed Sleight of Hand", the character details his worries about making himself a martyr over songs about unrequited love.[7] It opens with Cohn's cello as it synchs up with a distorted guitar part.[16] "Art Is Hard" has Kasher criticize artists who think that art should come from a place of suffering.[13] The first act concludes with "The Recluse", in which the character described being in bed with a woman be barely knows about. Kasher's restrained vocals evoke the sound of whispering in a bedroom, in an attempt not to wake up his companion.[7] "Herald! Frankenstein" is a short mainly instrumental track consisting of a cello and guitars, concluding with one line of lyrics: "I can’t stop the monster I created."[13]

"Butcher the Song", which features timpani, is sung from the perspective of both the Ugly Organist and his previous partner.[7] Kasher discusses the partner, and the way she ended up as the antagonist in his song writing.[17] "Driftwood: A Fairy Tale" is sung as a fairy tale, which sees Pinocchio cast as a boyfriend who walks into water to his death.[16][18] Cohn's cello earned the track a comparison to the work of Spoon.[19] Kasher recounts a post-sex discussion in "A Gentleman Caller", and is followed by the story of a weatherman in "Harold Weathervain".[16][19] With "Bloody Murderer", Kasher discusses being a serial killer, while in "Sierra", the Ugly Organist attempts to mend the relationship with a past lover.[7][5] The closing track, "Staying Alive" is ten minutes long; it begins with guitar and cello parts, eventually leading to white noise and a choir repeating the phrase "the worst is over".[10] Kasher said the song acted as "more of a summary, a solace to what is a difficult record at times and a lot of difficult situations".[13]

In October 2002, the band appeared on the US Plea for Peace Tour.[20] During the trek, the band debuted three new songs, "Some Red-Handed Sleight of Hand", "Art Is Hard", and "A Gentleman Caller".[5] On December 13, 2002, The Ugly Organ was announced for release in early 2003.[21] In January and February 2003, Cursive embarked on a headlining US tour, with support from Race for Titles, Neva Dinova, and the Velvet Teen.[22] "Art Is Head" was released as a single on January 21, 2003, with "Sinner's Serenade" as an extra track.[21] In February and March, Kasher went on tour with the Good Life; the trek also included Mayday, the side project of Stevens.[23] The Ugly Organ was released on March 4, 2003, through Saddle Creek.[21] The artwork was painted by Kasher, and features broken keys of an organ against a green background.[5] Between March and May 2003, Cursive went on a headlining US tour, with support on various dates from Small Brown Bike, No Knife, Engine Down, Minus the Bear, and the Appleseed Cast.[24] Following this, the band toured across Europe, which ran into June.[25] In September and October, the band went on a east coast tour, with the Blood Brothers, Race for Titles, Eastern Youth, and Fin Fang Foom.[26] In February 2004, the band played a few UK shows with Planes Mistaken for Stars and the Ataris.[27] Coinciding with this, "The Recluse" was released as a single on February 16, 2004, with "Once" and "Adapt" as B-sides.[28] Between April and June 2004, the band toured across the US as part of the Plea for Peace Tour.[29] They supported the Cure on their US tour in July and August 2004.[30] As touring was wrapping up, the band went on hiatus.[5] A 10" picture disc was released in December 2004, with "Art Is Hard", "The Recluse" and their respective B-sides.[31]

The album was re-released on November 24, 2014, as a remastered deluxe edition. It includes four songs from Cursive's split EP with Eastern Youth, 8 Teeth to Eat You; the song "Sinners Serenade" from the Art is Hard EP; the song "Nonsense" which appeared on Saddle Creek 50; and two songs from the EP The Recluse.[32]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	85/100[33]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[19]
Alternative Press	5/5[34]
Blender	[12]
Consequence of Sound	A−[7]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[35]
Mojo	[36]
Pitchfork	7/10[37]
Q	[38]
Rolling Stone	[18]
Uncut	[39]

The Ugly Organ was met with universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 15 reviews.[33]

Entertainment Weekly said of the album, "Organ raises the Saddle Creek bar in terms of sheer psychiatric-rock intensity". Billboard called it a "challenging, yet highly rewarding listen". Rolling Stone referred to it as a "brilliant leap forward". "The Recluse" appeared on a best-of emo songs list by Vulture.[40]

As of November 2014, The Ugly Organ went on to sell over 170,000 copies.[5]

The reissue, PopMatters' Adam Finley felt, showed how "cohesive", "carefully sequenced", and "flawlessly arranged [and] executed" the record remained. As well as being "a high-water mark" for Midwestern indie rock, Finley applauded Organ as "a moment of honest clarity" amidst "a notoriously self-mythologizing arena".[42] Dubbing it "a beast of a record", Treble ranked Organ on their list of post-hardcore's essential albums.[43] Alternative Press ranked "Art Is Hard" at number 99 on their list of the best 100 singles from the 2000s.[44]

Track listing per booklet.[9]

Personnel per booklet.[9]