Tim Kasher has spent his entire career writing about frustration. Frustration with love, frustration with the self, frustration with the whole damn world. On Get Fixed, Cursive’s second album in two years, that frustration has simply shifted targets. The youthful breakup angst is still there somewhere, but now it’s buried under nationalism, politics, and what Kasher calls “that upsetting acceptance” of who we are.
“The anger that I digested in 2017 is even more important now,” Kasher says, almost sighing. The record started years ago, in fits and stockpiles. “I have this long songwriting cycle now — I just keep piling songs up. Some of these go back to 2016. The lyrics always come last, though, so they feel old and new at the same time.”
Take “I Am Goddamn,” the standout track that nearly got lost in the shuffle. “It was one of the earliest songs we did. We just had too many things to focus on, so we set it aside and hoped for the best. Years later we still felt good about it, so here it is,” Kasher explains. He grins at the irony: one of the angriest songs on the record survived by patience.
But the anger itself... it’s complicated. “Get Fixed is more sad than angry,” he admits. “There’s this brutal acceptance in that song — of who we are, of where we’re at. Just trying to make the best of it. Which is unfortunately the best we can do.”
Kasher can’t help but circle nationalism as the recurring ghost. “I’m surprised by it, honestly. I always thought we’d moved past that — the ‘me’ thing, the borders, the flags. But history keeps teaching us it’s a human trait. Maybe we’re just more selfish than we want to admit. That darker side of humanity keeps winning out.”
Cursive has never billed themselves as a “political band,” but Kasher shrugs off labels anyway. “It’s political now because that’s what I’m consumed by,” he says. “I don’t want to fabricate anything. That’s what worries me about political music — it has to feel authentic. I just write about whatever’s consuming me at the time.”
Authenticity, after all, has been Kasher’s trademark since Domestica. He knows people still peg him as the guy to listen to when you’re going through a breakup. “I’ve certainly been pigeonholed as that person — the guy you turn to when you’re in a bad relationship. And I know I’ve written that song a lot. I’ll probably write it again. But I don’t want to write the same song over and over.”
That’s what makes Get Fixed sting. It isn’t just Kasher replaying old grievances — it’s him realizing those grievances have metastasized. “I used to be more optimistic,” he admits. “Globalism felt possible. Now we’re going in such a completely wrong direction it’s staggering.”
He stops short of calling it hopeless. But if you’re looking for a happy ending, you won’t find it here. Tim Kasher is still frustrated, still asking questions without answers, and still writing the soundtrack for your existential dread.
“That same frustration I had twenty years ago is the same frustration I have today,” he says. “It just happens to be about the external world now instead of the internal one.”
And maybe that’s the only answer he’ll ever give.
Listen to the interview above and then check out the videos below.
