With its combination of dynamic instrumentation, diverse and accomplished songwriting and lyrical catharsis, The Ugly Organ (released March 4, 2003 on Saddle Creek) stands as one of Cursive's most commanding performance to date.

Forging a unique territory somewhere between ¡°concept album¡±--not a derisive term to Cursive founder Tim Kasher: ¡°I don't see why any group of songs wouldn't form a cohesive whole as a ¡®concept album.' Why should an album be any different from, say, a collection of short stories?¡±--and tongue in cheek conceptual satire, The Ugly Organ is a singular work: an operetta of sexual and emotional confusion and conflict set to a musical backdrop that mirrors and expresses the entire range of emotions involved. By turns wildly dissonant (¡°Some Red Handed Slight of Hand,¡± ¡°A Gentleman Caller¡±) and beautifully restrained (¡°Driftwood: A Fairy Tale,¡± ¡°The Recluse¡±), the organ, guitar and cello lines, thundering rhythms and disjointed guitars mesh in a symbiotic relationship with Kasher's narrative