As I have mentioned before, despite all of my fascination with krautrock, shoegaze, post rock, electronica, folk, and the like, my musical center has never strayed far from emo.

Something about the sheer devastatingly self-immolating of it has always struck something in me.

The Ugly Organ, Cursive’s concept album about self-loathing, infidelity, lostness, and murder for the sake of art, is one of the most striking.

Sure, it’s not without its pretension (see: “Art Is Hard”), but the sound of the record–harshly bright guitars, melancholy cello lines, pounding drums, the occasional sleigh bell, and Tim Kasher’s own open-throated tenor–is something I’ve never been able to escape from.

This is text-book emo concept album, even with its choir-riddled, optimism filled closer “Staying Alive,” which, in the context of the despair before it, remains one of the most uplifting tracks I’ve ever heard.