One might wonder if it is necessary for Tim Kasher to be the front-man and mastermind behind two bands on the same label. This question was on the top of my mind after hearing the Good Life's Lovers Need Lawyers, the 6-song EP that served as a teaser for the band's long awaited third full-length album. Lovers left a bad taste in my mind. It abandoned the drum machine driven principles behind Black Out and the tenderness of Novena on a Nocturne, the Good Life's second and first releases, respectively, for typical rock and roll. With Album of the Year however, Kasher has redeemed himself and made it clear why he needs both the Good Life and Cursive as creative outlets.

Album of the Year takes the listener through a song for every month representing something in yet another failed relationship for the ever-boozing Kasher. In the album's initial and title track, one of the finest on the album, the couple meets in a ladies room stall. In each following song a more personal detail is revealed, from the self-inflicted cuts on the girlfriend's legs in "Night and Day" to her lingerie-strewn room as she is persuaded to leave her new boyfriend in "You're Not You". The ill-fated "Lovers Need Lawyers" even finds a comfortable, listener friendly, abode in the November slate in this calendar spanning from April to March.

Though Kasherıs unique vocals always hit home, it is the appearance by Jiha Lee (Bright Eyes, etc.) as lead vocalist on "Inmates" that resonates within my heart the most. "Inmates", penned by Kasher, is a nine-minute long insight into the mind of the girlfriend in this story. The song is so intimate it is able to make the lines "When you said you love me/ did you really love me" sound neither needy nor desperate. Between Kasher's Cohen-worthy one-liners, beautiful melodies, and the immaculate production completed by the Mogis brothers, I'd say that Album of the Year, it might indeed be.

-Sarah Stedman