Cursive’s Tim Kasher has been rolling out his new solo album Middling Age since the release of “I Don’t Think About You” in February. A couple weeks back we heard him team with punk lifers Laura Jane Grace and Jeff Rosenstock on “Forever Of The Living Dead.” And now, with the album just days away, he’s back with single #3.
The remarkably catchy “What Are We Doing” is Kasher’s exploration of the widening class disparity in America, contrasting images of empty excess with snapshots of people sacrificing a lot just to scrape by. In addition to its customary indie rock instrumentation, the song deploys horns and cello to gorgeous effect. Here’s what Kasher has to say about it:
“What Are We Doing” was written in my current home of LA, and though it references it specifically, it’s more accurately an indictment of the US and/or any first world society — the excess we expend at the expense of others. As a member of said society, I indict myself as well in the song; my hands are just as dirty as the next entitled citizen, benefitting from a “grab-n-go” economy. As is often my preference, the brighter and more melodic a song is, the harder I tend to downturn the lyrics, as I’ve attempted here on this catchy little number, wagging the finger at myself and all of us privileged folk for continually exploiting and taking for granted this system that seems to have been created exclusively for those more fortunate.
Hear “What Are We Doing” below.
Middling Age is out 4/15 via 15 Passenger.
28