Cusp release ‘In A Box’ single & announce album release show
Chicago indie rockers Cusp have released their new single ‘In A Box’ (October 13, 2025), the final preview from their forthcoming album What I Want Doesn’t Want Me Back, which will be released on October 17, 2025 via Exploding In Sound Records.
Built around glowing guitars and impassioned lyricism, ‘In A Box’ captures the introspective core of What I Want Doesn’t Want Me Back. Singer and guitarist Jen Bender describes the track as “the crux of the record,” reflecting on persistent inner conversations about comfort, art, and purpose. Written over a year ago but still deeply relevant, the single explores the paradox of feeling confined by one’s own creative impulses — “what impact art can have if the artist feels trapped in a box of their own making.”
Recorded almost entirely live at Electrical Audio, the new album showcases Cusp’s evolution since their debut You Can Do It All. Now a fully realized five-piece featuring Bender, Bates, Matt Manes (bass), Tommy Moore (drums, percussion, vocals), and Tessa O’Connell (synths, piano, vocals), the band captures both vitality and vulnerability across the record’s ten tracks.
Cusp will celebrate the album release with a hometown show on October 25 at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, joined by Pictoria Vark and Tenci.
‘In A Box’ is available now, and What I Want Doesn’t Want Me Back arrives October 17 via Exploding In Sound Records.
We’ve covered Cusp previously: ‘Follow Along.’
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