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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]

Entertainment Weekly

All that metaphysical hand-wringing makes for some knotty songs, but the band attacks them with zeal. [25 Aug 2006, p.86]

All Music Guide

It's Cursive at their finest, challenging and smart and absolutely riveting.

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Drowned In Sound

Intelligent indie-rockers, look nor listen no further for your possible album of the year.

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Filter

[Kasher's] storytelling is still right up there with the very highest of Saddle-sitters. [#21, p.97]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Like its predecessor, Happy Hollow is a moody album with an inherent instability.

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Spin

An emo album that you don't have to be 17 to actually enjoy. [Sep 2006, p.100]

Mojo

Happy Hollow swings with the nutty abandon of Madness, sharpened with the literate punk frenzy of Fugazi. [Oct 2006, p.104]

Prefix Magazine

It's an often frustrating listen, but in the end the album is a triumph.

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Urb

A lively collection. [Sep 2006, p.132]

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]

Drawer B

An ambitious, sprawling string of songs.

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Magnet

A personal (and personnel) triumph for the band. [#73, p.90]

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.

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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.

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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]

cokemachineglow

Cursive aspires for greater things, and Kasher’s aims are marred by over-production, a Nickelback whoosh here, a digitized cascade there.

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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]

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]

Pitchfork

The first seven songs kill, but the album's second half drags on longer than a Def Jam debut.

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PopMatters

If Happy Hollow doesn’t astound lyrically, though, it swings with force musically.

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Hartford Courant

Although Cursive is still one of the best at what it does, "Happy Hollow" fails to live up to previous greatness.

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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.

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Slant Magazine

Happy Hollow is far too grouchy to be taken seriously.

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What Our Users Said

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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Happy Hollow

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