Looking back at Cursive (Highdive, 3.26.12)

Though Cursive's Tim Kasher definitely showed signs of a nasty cold towards the end of the night, the three-band bill proved a good way to kick off the first week back from Spring Break. Conduits, a relatively new Saddle Creek addition played to its distorted strengths and played its role as a warm-up band unsurprisingly well given its status as a newly-formed super band of sorts (with members of Cursive, Neva Dinova, Son Ambulance, etc.). Although this was the second time I've seen Cymbals Eat Guitars, I was still taken aback by the very clear difference between the band's live set and recordings; its stage presence is much more reminiscent of an early-emo/post-punk vibe, and combined with some crafty tunes and some excellent dialogue between guitar and drums, Cymbals Eat Guitars could've easily been the headliner.Cursive's set was unpredictable, to say the least. The band has earned quite the slew of mixed reviews for its last three records (especially the newly released I am Gemini), and with each record clearly representing its own separate sound I wasn't sure how it would pull off playing a solid mixture of songs from a variety of records. It was nice to hear that songs like "Big Bang," "Driftwood" and "A Gentleman Caller" didn't suffer from lack of a horn section or cellist; Cursive is definitely a band to adapt, though I do miss Gretta Cohn. But to me it seemed that songs from Mama, I'm Swollen and I am Gemini suffered from their lack of an added element. While Cursive did well before the addition of a cellist, it appears that since the band had something else and lost it, the music itself feels like it's missing something as well, and that wasn't apparent to me until hearing Cursive's new songs in a live setting. Though, everything was played well; the band clearly had a fun time, and we even got a little comedy show in the middle. Cursive closed with "Art is Hard" while Kasher brought his mic and guitar into the audience for a little intimacy, and I can't think of a better way in which he could've closed the night.-Photos and review by Adam Barnett