To kick off his recent record, No Resolution, Cursive and the Good Life frontman Tim Kasher performed a solo acoustic show on Wednesday, March 1 at Union Pool in Brooklyn, New York. He will be touring in Europe this spring with a few U.S. dates, ending in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. We talked about the new release, his upcoming film, starting a record label, and more.
How does No Resolution compare to your previous solo releases?
It’s more homogenous overall than just about any record I’ve done, maybe back as far as Domestica which had such a small budget that we recorded over nine days. Adult Film is much more of a rock band setup. This record feels familiar to The Game of Monogamy, but yet The Game of Monogamy was still so intentionally all over the place in terms of eclecticism. [No Resolution] feels like one piece with more cohesion, which isn’t a good or bad thing, but it was just the direction I went in this time.
Where did you record it?
Some of it was done in Chicago while I was still living there. Some of it was done in Omaha. Some was done in Los Angeles, where I’m currently living.
You have a new label for this album, 15 Passenger. Why is that?
Some of the guys in Cursive have been working sometime on taking over our old catalog, in the spirit of working more independently, so that’s a lot of what that label was and is about. With that, the question was raised: Where would I want to release something, as a member of Cursive and co-owner of the label? I really gave it some thought because I’ve been with Saddle Creek since it started and I love Saddle Creek. You know, who thinks starting a label is a good idea? It’s just our interest on doing something of our own. I could’ve easily released on Saddle Creek, but in solidarity with the guys of Cursive, I said fuck it.
Was it last year that No Resolution the film premiered at the Omaha Film Festival?
It was an earlier cut that I prepared for that festival. It was still technically a premier, but I got a lot of great feedback as a result. I went back and did some edits. We’re going to release it later this year.
The music video for “An Answer for Everything” was released a few weeks ago. Could you talk a little bit about the song and how the video came together?
I chose that song myself. I like everything on the record, but I don’t hear stand-out singles on it very much. I’m guilty of falling in love with Sharon Van Etten over the last few years. I’ve grown to love her records so much, but I can’t pick out songs. I like the experience of listening [to the full album], not that I intended to do that. Very simply, I like the way that song came out, so I felt it was more promotable.
Could you describe a few other songs on the new album?
My actual favorite song off the record is “Break Me Open,” but that’s over five minutes and spare. It goes in unusual directions, but it doesn’t feel single appropriate. I’m most proud of that one. “Holding Out” is another. For me, or anyone that cares to delve deep into the mechanics of this record, and perhaps the movie, would recognize some of the songs alternate or have additional stories that are extensions of the movie.
What are your hopes for both the rest of the tour and the album?
Especially since this is a new label, we hope the record does well, but just doing average or similarly to past releases is the bare minimum I hope for. Therein lies a type of success and stability, but I’m exciting about these upcoming tours because I put together a unique, special band with a cello, violin, vibraphone, keys, drums. Five piece. I think it could be really great evening out of music. Sometimes, when I say things like that, I wonder if that’s the musician in me that appreciates that kind of stuff. I don’t know if everybody does, but I surely do.
Any Cursive or Good Life news you’d like to mention?
The Good Life has spent the past few years doing stuff for our latest album, Everything Is Coming Down, so we shut the door on that for the time being. For Cursive, aside from this new label, we continue to play a few times a year, but we’ve been messing around with some stuff and considering probably doing more stuff in the future, more tours.
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Keep up with Tim here.
