''Domestica'' (also styled as ''Cursive's Domestica'') is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Cursive Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...

, released on June 20, 2000. This album was the 31st release by

Saddle Creek Records Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

, released on CD as well as both red and black vinyl.

About

''Domestica'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

that tells the story of a relationship between two characters named "Sweetie" and "Pretty Baby." Both characters are mentioned by name in several of the songs on the album ("The Casualty," "The Martyr," "A Red So Deep," and "The Radiator Hums") as well as the title of "The Lament of Pretty Baby." It is presumed that the album correlates directly with lead singer and principal songwriter

Tim Kasher Timothy J. Kasher (born August 19, 1974) is an American musician from Omaha, Nebraska, and is the frontman of indie rock groups Cursive and the Good Life, both of which are on the Omaha-based record label Saddle Creek Records. Music Slowdo ...

's divorce, but additional dynamics were added to the story. One is the theme of

infidelity Infidelity (synonyms include cheating, straying, adultery, being unfaithful, two-timing, or having an affair) is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and riva ...

, prevalent in the songs "A Red So Deep" and "The Game of Who Needs Who the Worst," a dynamic Kasher says was not present in his marriage. While the ending track is ambiguous, lead singer

said in an interview that the couple stays together, despite their differences and fights. The album is mainly considered

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

and

Reception

In 2014, ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' named "The Martyr" in their list of "30

Emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

Songs: Late 90s & Early 2000s Essentials."

Track listing

Personnel

Cursive

- vocals, guitar *

Matt Maginn Matt Maginn is a musician from Omaha, Nebraska. He plays bass guitar in the indie-rock band Cursive and is a frequent contributor on a number of Bright Eyes records. He was also a founding member of Slowdown Virginia. He also helps run Team Lo ...

- bass, vocals *

Clint Schnase Clint Schnase is a musician from Omaha, Nebraska. He played drums in the indie-rock band Cursive from 1995 until late 2006. He also recorded and toured with Bright Eyes, Lullaby For The Working Class, The Good Life, Smashmouth (Indie rock ba ...

- drums, percussion *

Ted Stevens Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left o ...

- guitar, vocals

Additional Personnel

AJ Mogis A.J. Mogis is a musician from North Platte, Nebraska. He currently plays bass guitar in the indie-rock band Criteria. His brother is Mike Mogis. Together, they founded Presto! Recording Studios and have recorded almost all the albums released b ...

- recording, mixing, mastering *

Mike Mogis Michael Riley Mogis (born May 16, 1974) is an American producer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who, along with his brother A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Studios (previously known as Dead Space Recording and, earlier, Whoopass Record ...

- recording, mixing, mastering, production *Doug Van Sloun - mastering *

Zack Nipper Zack Nipper is an artist from Omaha, Nebraska. He has designed several album covers by bands such as Bright Eyes (band), Bright Eyes, Criteria (band), Criteria, Georgie James and Desaparecidos (band), Desaparecidos. Zack won "Best Recording Package ...

- cover art model for "Sweetie" *Jenn Bernard - cover art model for "Pretty Baby"

References

External links

Cursive official websiteSaddle Creek Records
{{Authority control 2000 albums Cursive (band) albums Saddle Creek Records albums Albums produced by Mike Mogis Concept albums