Living the Good Life

The title of The Good Life's new CD, "Album of the Year," appears presumptuous at first glance. It is intentionally misleading in this way.

Tim Kasher, the voice and the mind behind most of The Good Life's music and all of their lyrics, had something different in mind when he wrote this title.

"The album starts in April and ends in March. It's just a story of a year long relationship," he said.

There are 12 songs, and each one stands for a different month of the year. The artwork that accompanies the music is essentially a calendar, which demonstrates the idea more clearly.

"Album of the Year" could really be the best indie album of 2004. It is filled completely with catchy melodies and introspective lyrics any "emo" fan could use to relate to their latest crush. But this album isn't just for emo fans, and is much different musically from Kasher's first and more famous project, Cursive.

"The songs I write for The Good Life are more laid back. It comes more naturally to write in this style," said Kasher.

In fact, the album comes with a bonus disc containing all the songs that are on the CD in their acoustic, pre-production form. Even with the quality production, these songs sound stripped bare, revealing deep, heartfelt emotions.

These personal lyrics can be a nice breath of fresh air in the midst of all the political drama over the last few months. Recently, bands such as Green Day and R.E.M. have both put out politically charged albums, and even Kasher's dear friend and former Commander Venus bandmate Conor Oberst has been on the Rock for Change tour with his band, Bright Eyes.

Kasher has done political tours in the past to raise voter awareness with Cursive, but this tour is different.

"The stance that I've taken for writing is that I think one can be politically minded, but it doesn't need to come out politically," he said.

His lyrics with The Good Life focus more on romantic love, more specifically, the emotions of joy and sorrow that come from the kind of love that most young people feel with relative frequency. Kasher channels his influences but at the same time still manages to write original lyrics.

Kasher names Paul Simon as one of his favorites.

"I was most affected by him at an early age," he said. "He writes excellently and his lyrics are timeless."

Much like Simon did in his prime, Kasher writes clever lyrics that are both humorous and heartbreaking. On the title track to the new album he says, "I gave you an inch, you wanted a house with a yard," describing the terrible feeling of displeasing a lover with a pun.

The lyrics aren't all from the young male perspective either. Former band member Jiha Lee lends her vocals on "Inmates," to put the song into a female perspective. These aren't just angry lyrics, but wonderfully sensitive lyrics capable of churning emotion in any person who has had a failed relationship.

The live show promises to be even better, and it rolls into Nietzsche's tonight with Neva Dinova and the '89 Cubs.

"Some of these shows are phenomenal and pretty unusual," he said, boldly. "One show we pretty much put all our songs in a hat and let the audience pick."

The band takes the same natural approach on stage as they do in the studio. From time to time The Good Life is known to play covers from such artists as Neil Young and John Lennon, as are their opening act, Neva Dinova.

Neva Dinova hails from the same city as Kasher. The Omaha-based group recently put out a split EP with Bright Eyes, entitled "One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels." Neva Dinova have toured with Bright Eyes and Cursive in the past, before opening this entire The Good Life tour.