Known primarily for fronting the Midwestern groups Cursive and the Good Life—both of which reached the Billboard 200—Nebraska-born indie rocker Tim Kasher crafts solo material marked by literary depth and recurring themes that merge theatrical rock, chamber pop, and confessional singer/songwriter traditions. Fifteen years into his band career, he issued his first solo statement, The Game of Monogamy, in 2010; he later examined the complications of middle age on his fourth solo album, Middling Age, which surfaced in 2022.
Timothy J. Kasher was raised in Omaha near his friend and fellow vocalist Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, who name-checks him in the song “Nothing Gets Crossed Out.” In 1995 he launched Cursive alongside guitarist Stephen Pederson, bassist Matt Maginn, and drummer Clint Schnase. The band’s earliest work, including its 1997 debut Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes, highlighted Kasher’s forceful vocals, the rhythm section’s forceful drive, and angular guitar lines. Moving beyond their initial emo sound toward more polished and elaborate songwriting during the 2000s—exemplified by the Billboard 200-charting Happy Hollow (2006) and Mama, I'm Swollen (2009)—Kasher simultaneously sustained the Good Life with a rotating cast of musicians. That project debuted in 2000 with Novena on a Nocturn and later joined Cursive on the Billboard 200 when its fourth album, Help Wanted Nights, arrived in 2007 on Saddle Creek, Cursive’s label.
During 2009 Kasher sequestered himself in a Whitefish, Montana studio to cut his solo debut, the self-written, performed, and produced Game of Monogamy, a set of densely arranged orchestral indie rock that Saddle Creek released in 2010. The following year he added the EP Bigamy: More Songs from the Monogamy Sessions. Cursive returned to the Billboard charts with 2012’s I Am Gemini, after which Kasher unveiled Adult Film, a 2013 collection of synth-accented indie rock. The Good Life resurfaced in 2015 with Everybody's Coming Down, also on Saddle Creek, before every Kasher-affiliated act parted ways with the imprint.
Re-embracing orchestral textures, he delivered his third solo album, No Resolution, in March 2017 through 15 Passenger—the label he runs with then-Cursive colleagues Matt Maginn and Ted Stevens. Its fifteen tracks functioned as a soundtrack to a film of the same title, marking Kasher’s first turn as writer and director. Cursive followed with consecutive releases Vitriola (2018) and Get Fixed (2019); neither charted on the U.S. album list, though Vitriola reached the independent Top 30. Kasher then prepared his next solo outing, issuing Middling Age on 15 Passenger in April 2022 at the age of 46.
