Welcome To Happy Hollow

Originally ran as an artile in The College Times on October 28, 2006. It's old, and I cleaned it up, but the review is timeless in nature.


New Cursive album takes even newer direction

“Welcome one and welcome all to our small town,” Tim Kasher (vocalist, guitarist) sings, welcoming all listeners to the small town and the bands fifth full-length album – Happy Hollow.

Released August 2006 on Saddle Creek Records, Happy Hollow marks a move in a new direction for the Omaha, Nebraska four-piece comprised of Kasher, Matt Maginn (bass), Clint Schnase (drums) and Ted Stevens (guitar, vocals).

Keeping course with the bands unquenchable thirst for re-invention, take The Ugly Organ for example, and with the departure of cellist Gretta Cohn, Cursive have added a section of horns, arranged by Nate Walcott, which nicely punctuate the starts, stops, and strains throughout this 14-song collection. Even with so much change going on, somehow the Cursive stays true to their overall sound and Kasher to his disjointed song-writing style with Happy Hollow.

Continuing with a theme of change on the album, Kasher not only takes on a modified sound, he also moves past drowning his troubles with women at the bar and has a much larger fish to fry, namely God. It becomes somewhat what Jonah Bayer , in a review for Alternative Press, referred to as “The Da Vinci Code for indie rockers.” It isn’t a direct stab at Deity, but it does reveal a genuine skepticism about Catholicism with track like "Big Bang," "Bad Science" and "Bad Sects" which take definite aim at the religion.

However, he never mentions the church, nor does he denounce organized religion directly, he does it by constructing stories based on characters from the sleep town of Happy Hollow such as Father Cole, the pregnant teenager named Jeannine, other characters who remain nameless, and Dorothy, while not directly related to the subject of God or religion, strikes a familiar chord as a girl who keeps living in dreams of emerald cities and chasing tornadoes on the tracks "Dorothy at Forty" and "Dorothy Dreams Of Tornadoes."

One track that puts a bit of a kink in the fluidity of the record, even though it is somewhat of a roller coaster ride and full of thought provoking lyrics regardless, is the track "Into The Fold." Kasher recounts a philosophical discussion between a lamb and a shepherd, which will generally lose most listeners. Kasher perhaps gets a little to deep on this track, but it doesn’t really ruin the overall listen of the album.

Happy Hollow is a beautiful mix of storytelling, multi-genre sound, and ambiguity that create something of an eccentric package that is definitely worth a few good listens.