''Happy Hollow'' is the fifth album by the American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Cursive Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...

. It was released on August 22, 2006, on

Saddle Creek Records Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

began shipping pre-orders on August 8, 2006. The album is named after a neighborhood in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. The album is the first since the departure of cellist Gretta Cohn whose instrumentation was a fixture of the band's 2003 release ''

The Ugly Organ ''The Ugly Organ'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Cursive, released on March4, 2003, through Saddle Creek Records. It was released both on black and translucent green 180 gram vinyl. Background and production Following a b ...

''. The album features significant five-piece horn arrangements courtesy of Nate Walcott. 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

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

On May 22, 2006, the album's track listing was posted online. Four songs from the forthcoming album were posted on the band's Myspace profile on June 29, 2006. In July 2006, the band went on a headlining tour of the US, with support from

Make Believe Make believe, also known as pretend play, is a loosely structured form of play that generally includes role-play, object substitution and nonliteral behavior. What separates play from other daily activities is its fun and creative aspect rather t ...

and LaSalle. "Dorothy at Forty" was released as a single on July 11, 2006; it included the non-album tracks "The Bitter End" and "The Censor". The music video for "Dorothy at Forty" was posted online on August 3, 2006. On August 21, 2006, ''Happy Hollow'' was made available for streaming through their Myspace, prior to its release the following day through

. In September 2006, the band went on a tour of Japan with

the Velvet Teen The Velvet Teen is an American independent rock trio from Sonoma County, California. History The Velvet Teen is originally the name of Judah Nagler's electronic solo project, whose official debut was made during a brief Icelandic tour that beg ...

. Following this, they toured across the US until November 2006, with support from

the Thermals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, Ladyfinger,

Detachment Kit Detachment Kit is an American indie rock band formed in 1999. History Detachment Kit was started in Chicago, IL in 1999, by Toddrick Spalding (drums), Josh Hight (bass guitar), and Ian Menard (vocals, guitar, previously of Caesar's Glass Box). ...

Chin Up Chin Up Chin Up Chin Up was an American indie pop band formed in Chicago in 2001. Members The group's line-up included vocalist and guitarist Jeremy Bolen, formerly of Punjab and The Hertzsprung Gap, guitarist Nathan Snydacker, formerly of Nymb, bassis ...

Eastern Youth Eastern Youth is a Japanese punk rock trio formed in 1989 in Hokkaidō. Their sound blends many different styles, and is especially complex for a three-piece band. Their lyrics express the helplessness of Japanese youths. Their influences includ ...

, the Cops, and

Jeremy Enigk Jeremy Enigk (; born July 16, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, vocalist and guitarist / multi-instrumentalist. He is known as a solo artist, a film score composer, and as the lead vocalist, bassist, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist of the ...

. On March 6, 2007, the music video "Big Bang" was posted online. In May 2007, Cursive supported

Against Me! Against Me! is an American punk rock band formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida, by singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace. That same year, Grace moved to Gainesville, Florida, which is considered the band's hometown. Since 2001, the band's lineup ...

and

Mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

on their co-headlining US tour. In October 2007, the band announced that drummer Clint Schnase had left the band to focus on his family. On November 27, 2007, a music video was released for "Bad Sects". In early 2008, the band appeared at the

Noise Pop Festival Noise Pop Festival is an annual week-long music and arts festival that takes place throughout the San Francisco Bay Area produced by Noise Pop. From 1993 to 2020, and then resuming in 2022, Noise Pop Festival has provided exposure to some emer ...

in San Francisco, California. 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. This album came with a download code to download the songs in mp3 format directly from

. 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

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

Track listing

References

External links

Cursive official websiteSaddle Creek RecordsHappy Hollow mini-site
2006 albums Cursive (band) albums Saddle Creek Records albums Albums produced by Mike Mogis Concept albums {{2000s-indie-rock-album-stub