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Happy Hollow
by Cursive

Cursive reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 78 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.7 out of 10
based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The Tim Kasher-led band has lost its cellist (Gretta Cohn) but added a horn section for its latest release, produced, as always, by Mike Mogis.

LABEL: Saddle Creek
RELEASE DATE: 22 August 2006
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Indie, Rock

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Alternative Press
Even if you can't fully grasp the disc's existential subject matter, Happy Hollow is still a pleasure on the ears. [Sep 2006, p.207]
91
Entertainment Weekly
All that metaphysical hand-wringing makes for some knotty songs, but the band attacks them with zeal. [25 Aug 2006, p.86]
90
All Music Guide
It's Cursive at their finest, challenging and smart and absolutely riveting.
Read Full Review
90
Drowned In Sound
Intelligent indie-rockers, look nor listen no further for your possible album of the year.
Read Full Review
84
Filter
[Kasher's] storytelling is still right up there with the very highest of Saddle-sitters. [#21, p.97]
83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Like its predecessor, Happy Hollow is a moody album with an inherent instability.
Read Full Review
80
Spin
An emo album that you don't have to be 17 to actually enjoy. [Sep 2006, p.100]
80
Mojo
Happy Hollow swings with the nutty abandon of Madness, sharpened with the literate punk frenzy of Fugazi. [Oct 2006, p.104]
80
Prefix Magazine
It's an often frustrating listen, but in the end the album is a triumph.
Read Full Review
80
Urb
A lively collection. [Sep 2006, p.132]
80
Blender
Musically, his furiously gear-shifting punk-pop, full of horn blasts and arty production tricks... never fails to rock the sermon. [Aug 2006, p.107]
80
Drawer B
An ambitious, sprawling string of songs.
Read Full Review
80
Magnet
A personal (and personnel) triumph for the band. [#73, p.90]
75
Stylus Magazine
There’s an attention to detail and storytelling nous built up by those previous concept albums that makes further listening and exploration of Happy Hollow that much more rewarding.
Read Full Review
75
The Phoenix
In the end it’s the guitars, which alternate from restrained, melodic jangles to serrated feedback screams, and the general sense that Happy Hollow chronicles life during wartime that hold these 14 tune together, hymns or otherwise.
Read Full Review
70
Rolling Stone
[Kasher] stretches his tormented yowl and harsh guitars, with his band bashing even louder than on its 2004 breakthrough, The Ugly Organ. [7 Sep 2006, p.105]
70
cokemachineglow
Cursive aspires for greater things, and Kasher’s aims are marred by over-production, a Nickelback whoosh here, a digitized cascade there.
Read Full Review
70
Uncut
Happy Hollow serves up more emo with prog on the side, then adds dirty blues, cabaret and art-rock garnish. [Sep 2006, p.79]
70
Under The Radar
While the album somewhat lacks the emotional punch of The Ugly Organ, it makes up for it in a fine storytelling tone and some bitchin’ horns. [Summer 2006]
67
Pitchfork
The first seven songs kill, but the album's second half drags on longer than a Def Jam debut.
Read Full Review
60
PopMatters
If Happy Hollow doesn’t astound lyrically, though, it swings with force musically.
Read Full Review
60
Hartford Courant
Although Cursive is still one of the best at what it does, "Happy Hollow" fails to live up to previous greatness.
Read Full Review
40
The Guardian
The painful punning of Bad Sects is just one of the many cringeworthy moments on an album that sees grown men wallowing in a teenage wasteland from which they really should have moved on.
Read Full Review
30
Slant Magazine
Happy Hollow is far too grouchy to be taken seriously.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ben S gave it a9:
The lyrical content on this album left much to be desired; it was angstful to the point that I stopped trying to look for redeeming quality in the lyrics. Still, the musical content (including Kasher's voice usage) was impeccable. It was powerful, the beats were complex and original, the horns were a nice touch, although still not as good as the strings from Ugly Organ, and everything blended together well very nicely. If Kasher would've opted to stick to lyrics that make him appear older than 14, I would have given it a 10.

Mitch M gave it a10:
A fun ride the whole way through. Better than Ugly.

Kenny M gave it a10:
The most lyrically and musically progressive album that has come out in a long time...even if you don't dig the direction cursive has gone in since the ugly organ, you must agree this album is epic, well-written, and important to the advancement of alternative rock...and it has some bitchin' horns.

John N gave it a9:
Powerful and writhing. An interesting and necessary idealogical attack on America's heartland. Still, I miss Greta's haunting strings.

Drunken Master gave it a6:
Poor Tim Kasher -- no one feels pain like he does. Overwrought, melodramatic and terribly self indulgent. Grow up.

Jeremy gave it a10:
I love how someone will hate hardcore on well written music because they don't like the style chosen. The music is still very very good on this album and every song has a different flavor just like any other album they've written. Get off your pretentious high horses and actually enjoy music when you listen to it...jesus. I have never heard an album like this before. Regardless if I didn't happen to feel the new sound, I would at least acknowledge that is still way creative, well written, and constructed music...Any fan of cursive should remember the line in the butcher song..."I'm writing songs...to entertain. But these people, they just want pain." Think about that line for a second...they are trying to be a form of entertainment and all people can seem to do is butcher it up and pretend like they know what music is supposed to be...like there is even a clearcut definition of what music is supposed to be even at all... If you can't understand that, then don't bother listening to cursive. You miss the freakin point. Excellent work on the album.

Lancy gave it a10:
This album takes a few listens to "get." After a couple days of listening to Happy Hollow to and from school and work, I have to say I am totally hooked. As far as the sound is concerned, it's no Ugly Organ. But the lyrics (and I listened carefully to all the lyrics) are amazing; they are smart and biting and focused. It's nice to hear Tim wail about something other than lost loves and bar-crawling. Cursive just gets better with each album.

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