Casual Curious

The atmospheric qualities remain on Lungs, Casual Curious’ follow-up to its self-titled debut, but so much else has changed in the band’s dynamic that it hardly feels like the same project. As the band’s only constant, architect T. Lee Gunselman has shifted his focus from glitchy programming to fleshing out some of the lyrical ideas he presented the first time around in a dancefloor-driven context. Much of the repetition of the debut has been replaced with subdued pop hooks and synths that radiate warmth, and whereas the first album felt like the product of a single person much of the time, Lungs grooves like a full-band effort. The EP’s opener “GGYM.” introduces the retooled quintet with fluttering abstractness, and then glowing melodies merge with drummer Hunter Allen’s boom-bap, skittering guitar and waves of sax into a sound that would fit snugly between Talking Heads’ True Stories and Naked. Walter Fancourt’s wind playing has the tendency to steal the moment, most notably on the Abilified jam “Remote Control” in which he shatters the song’s sublime marriage of Dam-Funk synths and casual Hall & Oates funk. Hints of the project’s art-rock past reveal themselves in “Without Your Love” when the EP’s adamant groove disappears during the song’s shoegaze-y oratory, but as the closer “Rock My Boat” insists, this is a dance record at heart. - Yes! Weekly

A Greensboro duo called Casual Curious made that clear as soon as its set began with an arresting combination of programmed loops and live drums, keyboards, and vocals. The drummer, James Crosson, was a Bonham-esque marvel of force and groove, while frontman T. Lee Gunselman was the mad scientist operating all the other elements behind a bank of synths and equipment, all while singing big, irresistible hooks. To call what they did synth-pop, or electronica-tinged rock, or anything else so vague and unappealing would do a disservice to Casual Curious’ muscular, densely textured and inventively arranged songs. If there’s any justice, the world will start paying attention to this band, and soon. - Baltimore City Paper Blog

11. Casual Curious - Casual Curious (self-released)
I saw this band from North Carolina play an amazing set for a tiny crowd in Baltimore over the summer, and grabbed the self-titled album they were giving away on CD-r at the merch table, and even left a tip because I thought they were so awesome. Then, I couldn’t get the CD to work in any player I had, and found a download link for the album on the band’s Facebook page. As far as I know barely anybody knows about this band and the duo lineup that made this album and played the incredible I show is apparently not even going anymore, because they seem to have a new bigger lineup. But this is the kind of hidden gem I live for, just a great idiosyncratic DIY mix of synths and drums and vocals, memorable songs, creative production. The songs don’t sound as huge here as they did live, but I hope they come back to Baltimore to play sometime.
- Narrowcast

Opener Casual Curious play the kind of smooth 70s-style R&B that you don’t typically expect from a North Carolina band. Their stabs at downtown funk would feel equally at home over the opening credits of a blaxploitation flick as they did in a room full of self-consciously dressed white kids in the barely fire code-compliant space that was the Gibson Guitar Showroom on Saturday. Placing their sax lines way up front, both melodically and in their live mix, is a smart move for the band: even their instrumental numbers have a distinctive, lived-in feel that you don’t always get in vocals-free songs. - Brightest Young Things