Happy Hollow (album)

Happy Hollow
Studio album by
Cursive
ReleasedAugust 22, 2006
GenreIndie rock
Length45:26
LabelSaddle Creek
ProducerTim Kasher and Mike Mogis
Cursive chronology
The Difference Between Houses and Homes
(2005) 		Happy Hollow
(2006) 		Mama, I'm Swollen
(2009)

Happy Hollow is the fifth album by the American indie rock band Cursive. It was released on August 22, 2006, on Saddle Creek Records. Saddle Creek Records began shipping pre-orders on August 8, 2006. The album is named after a neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska.

The album is the first since the departure of cellist Gretta Cohn[1] whose instrumentation was a fixture of the band's 2003 release The Ugly Organ. The album features significant five-piece horn arrangements courtesy of Nate Walcott.[2]

The lyrics of Happy Hollow form a concept album of sorts, revolving around a small town and its inhabitants, and dealing with concepts such as religious dogma and hypocrisy.

Concept

[edit]

The album revolves around a small, upper class, God-fearing town of the same name (the name Happy Hollow coming from the affluent Omaha, NE neighborhood surrounding Happy Hollow Blvd). Each track in the album tells a different story of faults that the inhabitants of Happy Hollow portray that seem at odds with the town's "perfect" image. The final track, "Hymns for the Heathen," is an afterword of the album, describing the concepts explored in each of the 14 tracks.

The album has many biblical references, reflecting on Kasher's Catholic upbringing.

Release

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On May 22, 2006, the album's track listing was posted online.[3] Four songs from the forthcoming album were posted on the band's Myspace profile on June 29, 2006.[4] In July 2006, the band went on a headlining tour of the US, with support from Make Believe and LaSalle.[5][6] "Dorothy at Forty" was released as a single on July 11, 2006; it included the non-album tracks "The Bitter End" and "The Censor".[7][8] The music video for "Dorothy at Forty" was posted online on August 3, 2006.[9] On August 21, 2006, Happy Hollow was made available for streaming through their Myspace, prior to its release the following day through Saddle Creek Records.[10] In September 2006, the band went on a tour of Japan with the Velvet Teen.[11] Following this, they toured across the US until November 2006, with support from the Thermals, Ladyfinger, Detachment Kit, Chin Up Chin Up, Eastern Youth, the Cops, and Jeremy Enigk.[12][13][14] On March 6, 2007, the music video "Big Bang" was posted online.[15] In May 2007, Cursive supported Against Me! and Mastodon on their co-headlining US tour.[16] In October 2007, the band announced that drummer Clint Schnase had left the band to focus on his family.[17] On November 27, 2007, a music video was released for "Bad Sects".[18] In early 2008, the band appeared at the Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco, California.[19] In April 2008, the band went on a tour with Capgun Coup; the trek included performances at Not Brooklyn Fest and Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival.[20][21]

This album came with a download code to download the songs in mp3 format directly from Saddle Creek Records. Pre-orders of the album came with a miniature license plate that had a code to download a bonus track entitled "No News Is Bad News".

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic78/100[22]
Review scores
SourceRating
AbsolutePunk(90%)[23]
Allmusic[24]
Alternative Press[25]
ARTISTdirect[26]
Filter(87%)[27]
Pitchfork(6.7/10)[28]
Under the Radar(7/10)[29]

Punknews.org ranked the album at number 17 on their list of the year's 20 best releases.[30]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleLength
1."Opening the Hymnal / Babies"2:32
2."Dorothy at Forty"3:02
3."Big Bang"3:56
4."Bad Sects"3:39
5."Flag and Family"2:56
6."Dorothy Dreams of Tornadoes"2:54
7."Retreat!"3:57
8."The Sunks"2:53
9."At Conception"2:57
10."So-So Gigolo"3:43
11."Bad Science"2:40
12."Into the Fold"4:16
13."Rise Up! Rise Up!"3:22
14."Hymns for the Heathen"2:39
Pre-order Bonus Track
No.TitleLength
15."No News Is Bad News"2:08

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Cellist Gretta Cohn leaves Cursive
  2. ^ Cursive talks about upcoming full length
  3. ^ Paul, Aubin (May 22, 2006). "Cursive details release". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  4. ^ Paul, Aubin (June 29, 2006). "Cursive posts four new tracks". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  5. ^ Paul, Aubin (May 14, 2006). "Cursive on the road in July". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  6. ^ August, Justin (June 29, 2006). "LaSalle added to Cursive's July tour". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  7. ^ Paul, Aubin (June 3, 2006). "Cursive detail first single". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  8. ^ "Dorothy at Forty - Cursive / Release Info". AllMusic. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  9. ^ Paul, Aubin (August 3, 2006). "Cursive debuts 'Dorothy at Forty' video". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  10. ^ Reinecker, Meg (August 21, 2006). "Cursive post 'Happy Hollow' stream". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  11. ^ Paul, Aubin (July 20, 2006). "Stream the new record from the Velvet Teen". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  12. ^ Shultz, Brian (August 13, 2006). "Cursive announces U.S. tour dates". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  13. ^ Paul, Aubin (August 18, 2006). "Cursive / The Thermals / Detachment Kit / Eastern Youth". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  14. ^ Paul, Aubin (September 28, 2006). "Jeremy Enigk to tour with Cursive". Punknews.org. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  15. ^ Paul, Aubin (March 6, 2007). "Cursive premieres 'Big Bang' video". Punknews.org. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  16. ^ Paul, Aubin (March 6, 2007). "Against Me! / Mastodon / Cursive / (Planes Mistaken for Stars, These Arms Are Snakes)". Punknews.org. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  17. ^ Paul, Aubin (October 22, 2007). "Cursive loses drummer, adopts Cornbread Compton". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  18. ^ Paul, Aubin (November 27, 2007). "Cursive: 'Bad Sects'". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  19. ^ "San Francisco festival reveals lineup". NME. November 20, 2007. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  20. ^ Raub, Jesse (February 18, 2008). "Not Brooklyn Fest featuring Cursive, Dead Meadow, Neil Hamburger and more". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  21. ^ Paul, Aubin (March 13, 2008). "Cursive / Capgun Coup". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  22. ^ "Happy Hollow by Cursive". Metacritic. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  23. ^ AbsolutePunk review
  24. ^ Happy Hollow at AllMusic
  25. ^ Alternative Press No. 218
  26. ^ "ARTISTdirect review". Archived from the original on 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2006-09-07.
  27. ^ Filter Magazine No. 21
  28. ^ Pitchfork review of Happy Hollow by Cursive on August 23, 2006 by Sam Ubl
  29. ^ Under the Radar No. 14
  30. ^ Shultz, Brian (January 1, 2007). "Best of 2006: Punknews.org (2006)". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
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