Review: We Used to Cut the Grass – We Used to Cut the Grass #2

Style: Jazz Fusion, Jazz, Orchestral, Comedy (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Thank You Scientist, Clown Core, the Fallout series of games, Frank Zappa, Radiohead
Country: New Jersey, United States
Release date: 18 July 2025

I like a fruit salad as much as the next guy. You’ve got your apples, your limequats, your pawpaws – all the good ones. But inevitably, someone will say “well, a tomato is technically a fruit, you should add that to your fruit salad”. Because we are weak-willed we acquiesce, but that is the primary and unforgivable misstep. Because from that point forward, the floodgates are open, and all varieties of avocado, olives, and peas come tumbling out. You like jalapeños in your fruit salad, huh? Do you, punk?

We Used to Cut the Grass is a band from New Jersey, led by Cody McCorry (of Thank You Scientist and others), who just released their sophomore effort, We Used to Cut the Grass #2, an album which would definitely argue that some pumpkin¹ belongs in that salad.² #2 spans a huge range of genres and moods, opening with a stately orchestral piece, ending on some smooth lounge jazz, with an uptempo post-apocalyptic radio bulletin about (an obviously fictitious) Buffalo Wild Wings’ chicken milk delivery service in between.

#2 continues multiple thematic elements from the Grass‘s debut album, #1, including the characters Shep and Scully,³ the radio station WKRM the Kream, and the traditional jazz group Captain Cream & the Forest Fires. #1 was a fairly straightforward jazz album which—by its conclusion—descended into a kind of silly chaos; #2 continues and expands on that silliness. The most obvious manifestation of this is in the lyrics, which discuss the ethical implications of adding oat crumbs to a vegan croissant, podcast charlatans radicalizing your family, and the aforementioned chicken milk delivery service.

Instrumentally, #2 shares much of its DNA with #1 and with Thank You Scientist, with the Grass being effectively a superset of TYS, sans a dedicated vocalist. If you’re looking for something to scratch that TYS itch while they recoup from the loss of their original vocalist, Salvatore Marrano,⁴ #2 might do the job. #2 features McCorry‘s impressive bass (particularly notable on the irreverent “Hot Vegan Summer”) and guitar playing (he does his best Jonny Greenwood impression on “Shep’s Encounter”), Joe Gullace‘s trumpet and Alex Blade Silver‘s saxophone (most prominently on “Lights, Camera, Ham!”), and Ben Karas‘ excellent string work, among others. As we’ve come to expect from the Greater Science Community,⁵ there is truly nothing negative that can be said about the instrumental performances on #2. These guys are the real deal.

The album opens on “The Play Shep Wrote in ’92”, a moving orchestral piece performed by the Sofia Session Orchestra in Sofia, Bulgaria, which showcases McCorry‘s talent as a composer. The layering of gentle bells,⁶ followed by strings and horns which unfurl into a rolling landscape of brass and percussion builds to a dramatic tension and then settles into a quiet reprise and fades. This track is followed by McCorry‘s bass ushering in “The Comet Is Not Coming”,⁷ a heavy, energetic, sax-and-theremin-heavy jazz-rock fusion track which—like a later track, “The Hatman Cometh”—sounds like it could be an instrumental off of any TYS album. But the musical smorgasbord doesn’t end there…

“Lights, Camera, Ham!” is the meaty next course: a rolling jazztronica track, which alternates between busy horns-and-drums sections and airier electronic sections. The music video for the single is almost entirely footage of landscapes passing by, taken out the windows of trains and cars, the slowly-moving mountains in the background echoing the long notes held by the horns and quickly-moving foreground mirroring the repeated arpeggios of the other wind instruments and electric violin. This is definitely a lofi hip hop radio beat to relax/study to (that is: it’s a chill vibe), but does it belong on the same album as the traditional jazz of the closing tracks?

If “The Comet Is Not Coming” and “The Hatman Cometh” are the cantaloupe and watermelon, “The Play Shep Wrote in ’92” is the grapes, and “Lights, Camera, Ham!” is the tomato, then “Hot Vegan Summer” is the eggplant which really starts to shake up this fruit salad of an album. Trust Fund Ozu is co-credited on this track, delivering a rap verse about veganism. “Uh oh, everybody’s having fun at Buffalo Wild Wings” is sung over absolutely frenetic slap bass. I mean, I dig it, but I wonder if the Sofia Session Orchestra were ever expecting to appear on the same album as something like this.

When I joined The Progressive Subway not too long ago, I was ribbed for being someone who listens to all my tracks on shuffle; I don’t always listen to albums all the way through. With We Used to Cut the Grass #2, I get to have my salad and eat it too—no more bullying at The Subway, but also I get to listen to the most haphazard sequence of genres I think I’ve ever heard on a single album. We Used to Cut the Grass #2 is the jalapeño-pineapple-chickpea fruit salad of music, and I am here for it (in moderation), but I think it is probably an acquired taste. If the trend continues for #3, I’m looking forward to a pop country track next to gamelan next to dissonant death metal. Your move, Cody.

Recommended tracks: Lights, Camera, Ham!, Shep’s Encounter, Hot Vegan Summer
You may also like: Adam Neely & Ben Levin’s How I Loved My Cat, Trust Fund Ozu, mouse on the keys
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

We Used to Cut the Grass is a flexible ensemble which at times has included (alphabetically)

• AJ Merlino: vibraphone
• Alex Silver: tenor saxophone
• Ben Karas: violin, viola
• Cody McCorry: bass, guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, theremin, hand saw, guitar
• Daimon Alexandrius Santa Maria: disc jockey
• Faye Fadem: drums, percussion
• Ian Gray: trombone
• James McCaffrey III: guitar
• Jennifer DeVore: cello
• Joe Gullace: trumpet, “electronic valve instrument”
• Kevin Grossman: drums, percussion
• Matthew Trice: alto saxophone
• Sam Greenfield: tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, clarinet
• Seamus Leonhardt: drums
• Sean Marks: baritone saxophone
• Timothy Adedigba Ogunbiyi: fender rhodes
• Tom Monda: guitar

1. Which is not only a fruit, but also a berry. ↩︎
2. Either before or after asking you to join Keatonics, the cult of Michael Keaton. ↩︎
3. Check out my accompanying interview with Cody, where he explains where these characters come from and what they mean (or don’t) in the context of the album. ↩︎
4. Daimon Alexandrius, of Karmic Juggernaut, has been named as Sal’s replacement. ↩︎
5. At The Subway, we’ve started referring to a group of bands which feature one or more of Cody McCorry, Ben Karas, Tom Monda, and co. as the Greater Science Community. This group includes Thank You Scientist, Slaughtersun, Glass Garden, We Used to Cut the Grass, Karmic Juggernaut, Civilians, and many more. ↩︎
6. What sounds like bells here is actually a celeste, as can be seen in the music video for this track. ↩︎
7. The Comet Is Coming ↩︎