Even more so than any of his many records with Cursive andThe Good Life, Tim Kasher’s debut solo album is torn between its grand-statementambitions and the reality of being a yet another workmanlike, warts-and-all recordfrom a songwriter who puts out about one a year. The Game of Monogamy isn’t the magnum opus that its lofty orchestraloverture promises, then, but there’s no shame in being a slice-of-life poprecord, especially with songs as spry and animated as these. An elated hornsection drives Monogamy’s upbeat numbersand to be sure, there are plenty of them here,especially for an album so fixated on domestic dissatisfaction and existentialdreadwhile Kasher loads the slower songs with spirited twists andbreakdowns. A few songs are are earnest to the point of being uncomfortablein particular, “ThereMust Be Something I’ve Lost” is a parade of off-putting lyrics that opens with Kasher drunkenly cyber stalking ex-girlfriendsbut for much of the album Kasherkeeps the tone light and zippy, even when his subject matter is anything but. His feat is conveying his misery without making the listener feel it themselves.
Also out this week:
* Marnie Stern integrates his signature, power-metal guitar shreddingseamlessly into a more traditional, forthcoming set of songs on her self-titledthird album.
* Clinic retain their signature off-kilter organs and synthesizers on theirsixth album, Bubblegum. No surprises here.
* Tricky’s new Mixed Race is among the producer’s shortest albums, clocking inat just under a half an hour.
* Coming off a feature on B.o.B.’s hit single “Nothin’ On You,” soul-pop singerBruno Mars releases his debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans.
* And Toby Keith, never one for subtlety, titledhis latest album Bullets in the Gun.
