Cusp is an appropriate name for an indie band that seems to be perpetually on the brink of a breakthrough, and with each passing year the Chicago band keeps the nomenclature relevant by moving forward to some new threshold of renown. In 2023, we named Cusp one of the year's best new bands, and Thanks So Much was one of my personal favorite EPs of 2024. Today Cusp are back with news of What I Want Doesn't Want Me Back, their new album for the esteemed Exploding In Sound label.
What I Want Doesn't Want Me Back is dropping in October, and today we get our first preview with a video for lead single "Follow Along" by directors Jamie Lipman and Kira Fahmy. "Follow Along" is an intensely catchy indie rock track with a huge, distorted chorus and plenty of quotable lyrics like "I saw my friend, she was going astray/ I look at my phone and it shows me the way." An explainer from Cusp's Jen Bender:
"Follow Along" is a caricature of the age old question - "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?" Chaos may ensue if you get too swept up in what everyone else is doing,” she explains. “We approached our friends Jamie Lipman and Kira Fahmy with the idea to do a video for this song and they immediately understood the themes and energy. Jamie gave us a 20-minute, Detroiters-style presentation about the vision for the shoot and the rest is history. He has been quoted as saying he is the only one ‘willing to put his life on the line’ to play the magician.
Watch the "Follow Along" video below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Healthy Living"
02 "Follow Along"
03 "Oh Man"
04 "The Upper Hand"
05 "In A Box"
06 "I Like My Odds"
07 "Lie Down"
08 "Give Up Your Garden"
09 "Forget Me Not"
10 "Extracurricular Hell"
What I Want Doesn't Want Me Back is out 10/17 via Exploding In Sound. Pre-order it here. Cusp are playing a hometown release show 10/25 at Lincoln Hall with Pictoria Vark and others TBA.
