original bw-polaroid by Amy Robison
The emotional machinery and artful alt rock / art punk hops & skips of "Shoes Today", by Richmond, Virginia's REVERSE YR CURSE, is at once dramatic in it's bold syncopations, unique percussive propulsions and also somewhat unsettling, at least to my nervous system. Rock beats can swing and that is a great thing (thanks Ringo) but they can also feel angular and abrupt, industrial and sort of automatonic (thanks Devo) and the way REVERSE YR CURSE crafts this track (to me) is human but maybe feels less than causing this sort of dissonance in my head. The stoic or surprising cadence kind of hits my natural biometric clock in a weird way like stepping off a curb but not expecting it or trying to drum a 7/8 time sig. That is not to say that I don't dig this approach, I actually love how different it is among the often cookie cutter-ness across our pop and indie rock landscapes.
I am also digging the sonics, the boomy toms against the utterly magnetic bass, the strident piercing guitar stabs, the additions of the double timey rim shots as a framework for bassist Bonnie Staley's evocative vocals that feel performance art-esque in such a cool way. "Shoes Today" is featured on the band's album "Where Are We Going and When Will We Get There?" which was recorded with Alex De Jong at Spacebomb Studio in Richmond, Virginia.
I am also digging the sonics, the boomy toms against the utterly magnetic bass, the strident piercing guitar stabs, the additions of the double timey rim shots as a framework for bassist Bonnie Staley's evocative vocals that feel performance art-esque in such a cool way. "Shoes Today" is featured on the band's album "Where Are We Going and When Will We Get There?" which was recorded with Alex De Jong at Spacebomb Studio in Richmond, Virginia.
On the song, the band's Matthew Parks says:
"This song is literally and metaphorically about walking in someone else’s torn-up, worn-down shoes, and experiencing how uncomfortable they must be. It’s about having empathy for people who are different from you. You can become endeared to the way another person navigates the world which, in this case, is with pain and difficulty; but also with humor, grace, and humility. It’s about truly seeing someone for who they are, and understanding how their life experiences have molded them. It’s also about someone I know."
LINER NOTES: (excerpted / bracketed):
["The instrumentation for this song came from one of our improv jams at our practice space. Sometimes there’s enough magic in those improvs that we don’t have to fidget with the arrangement too much. It’s always a good sign when a song seems to write itself. All we have to do then is honor that initial moment the best we can. In this instance, I loaded the recording of that jam into GarageBand, and then the melody and lyrics developed very quickly, further adding to the magic of being in the moment. ‘Shoes Today’ really came to life in the studio. By adding the layers of vocal harmonies, guitars and synth, we brought it to a sonic level above what we are typically able to perform live as a trio. Taking the recorded song back to the live setting is always an interesting challenge. A song is born in a living room, a practice space, or any random place in someone’s mind. It is treated with overdubs, painstakingly mixed, and then stripped down again for live performance. It’s fun to let songs have these variable personas"]
I totally dig the aesthetic here and will delve into other tracks off of "Where Are We Going and When Will We Get There?" (which sounds like a cool indie film title) as soon as I am able.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://reverseyrcurse.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/reverseyrcurse
https://www.facebook.com/reverseyrcurse
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2WsNz98llckQPiBg9N5NjH?
REVERSE YR CURSE are making an artful, nuanced sort of indie rock music in Richmond, Virginia; culled from decades worth of equally oversized record collections and neuroses. Lyrics point to struggle on both the micro and macro level, within and without. There’s an air of rooting for the downtrodden, always longing for relief. There’s a reckoning with the past, and a seeking of peace with the present. Keenly aware of mortality, there’s an alliance with the self, and a complicated desire to live fully. With openness to both experimentation and traditional song writing, their music exists on a plane where serendipity fits tightly with forced intention.
Their debut LP, Where Are We Going and When Will We Get There?, pulls off a casual pop intimacy, steeped in nostalgia, with a freshness ironically achieved through maturity. Matthew, Bret and Bonnie made this album rather slowly, as a labor of love, with markedly enhanced production over their 2024 self-titled EP. Intricate structures underlay ethereal vocals, uplifting harmonies that swirl from song to song, capturing a playful tension in each. The group appears to have an obsessive need for both dissonance and perfect euphony. There’s an earnestness to their songs, coming from people not dealing in pretense, perhaps finally free from needing to seem cool. Whatever darkness detected within gets overridden by genuine love and hope.
"This song is literally and metaphorically about walking in someone else’s torn-up, worn-down shoes, and experiencing how uncomfortable they must be. It’s about having empathy for people who are different from you. You can become endeared to the way another person navigates the world which, in this case, is with pain and difficulty; but also with humor, grace, and humility. It’s about truly seeing someone for who they are, and understanding how their life experiences have molded them. It’s also about someone I know."
LINER NOTES: (excerpted / bracketed):
["The instrumentation for this song came from one of our improv jams at our practice space. Sometimes there’s enough magic in those improvs that we don’t have to fidget with the arrangement too much. It’s always a good sign when a song seems to write itself. All we have to do then is honor that initial moment the best we can. In this instance, I loaded the recording of that jam into GarageBand, and then the melody and lyrics developed very quickly, further adding to the magic of being in the moment. ‘Shoes Today’ really came to life in the studio. By adding the layers of vocal harmonies, guitars and synth, we brought it to a sonic level above what we are typically able to perform live as a trio. Taking the recorded song back to the live setting is always an interesting challenge. A song is born in a living room, a practice space, or any random place in someone’s mind. It is treated with overdubs, painstakingly mixed, and then stripped down again for live performance. It’s fun to let songs have these variable personas"]
I totally dig the aesthetic here and will delve into other tracks off of "Where Are We Going and When Will We Get There?" (which sounds like a cool indie film title) as soon as I am able.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://reverseyrcurse.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/reverseyrcurse
https://www.facebook.com/reverseyrcurse
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2WsNz98llckQPiBg9N5NjH?
REVERSE YR CURSE are making an artful, nuanced sort of indie rock music in Richmond, Virginia; culled from decades worth of equally oversized record collections and neuroses. Lyrics point to struggle on both the micro and macro level, within and without. There’s an air of rooting for the downtrodden, always longing for relief. There’s a reckoning with the past, and a seeking of peace with the present. Keenly aware of mortality, there’s an alliance with the self, and a complicated desire to live fully. With openness to both experimentation and traditional song writing, their music exists on a plane where serendipity fits tightly with forced intention.
Their debut LP, Where Are We Going and When Will We Get There?, pulls off a casual pop intimacy, steeped in nostalgia, with a freshness ironically achieved through maturity. Matthew, Bret and Bonnie made this album rather slowly, as a labor of love, with markedly enhanced production over their 2024 self-titled EP. Intricate structures underlay ethereal vocals, uplifting harmonies that swirl from song to song, capturing a playful tension in each. The group appears to have an obsessive need for both dissonance and perfect euphony. There’s an earnestness to their songs, coming from people not dealing in pretense, perhaps finally free from needing to seem cool. Whatever darkness detected within gets overridden by genuine love and hope.
REVERSE YR CURSE, alt rock, psychedelic rock, alt rock, art punk, art rock, Richmond Virginia, "Shoes Today" (Official Video), unique abstract sound, dreamy, off kilter, new album "Where Are We Going and When Will We Get There?",
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