Happy Hollow

"Even if you can't fully grasp the disc's existential subject matter, 'Happy Hollow' is still a pleasure on the ears.”
- Alternative Press (10/10)

"It's Cursive at their finest, challenging and smart and absolutely riveting.”
- All Music Guide (9/10)

"All that metaphysical hand-wringing makes for some knotty songs, but the band attacks them with zeal.”
- Entertainment Weekly (9/10)

"Storytelling right up there with the very highest of Saddle-sitters.”
- Filter (8.5/10)

"Intelligent indie rockers, look nor listen any further for your possible album of the year.”
- Drowned In Sound

After a steady diet of near-constant touring across three continents, including a stint opening for The Cure on the '04 'Curiosa' tour, Cursive was a quintet on the precipice. Their then-most recent record 'The Ugly Organ' had racked up considerable accolades – named one of '03s best records by Blender, called "…the best album of [the band's] career…” by The NY Times and given 4-stars by Rolling Stone – but the band, ragged and road-weary, opted for hiatus rather than forging onward to the daunting "Follow-Up to Hit Record”.

All was quiet in "Camp Cursive” for more than a year... and then, slowly at first, after much decompression and contemplation, they began to discuss and then assemble a new record as a freshly reconstituted four-piece – the longtime core of Tim Kasher [vocals, guitar], Matt Maginn [bass], Clint Schnase [drums] and Ted Stevens [guitar, vocals].

The band's re-emergence finds them self-assured and assertive as ever. Rather than retread familiar artistic ground, Cursive has unfurled their most adventurous and accomplished work to date, 'Happy Hollow'.

'Happy Hollow' is an expansion of Cursive's trademark discordant swell: dissonant yet distinctively melodic guitar and frontman Kasher's ever-cathartic yowl now mesh and clash with horns, piano, accordion and various instrumentation.

The new songs are marked by a new bounce, a buoyant strut and a recognition that hey... this is fun. Still informed by a sharp lyrical pathos and a wise, road-tested sense of dynamic interplay, the songs groove and dart with brash swagger, interspersed with hints of gospel and skewed blues. The rhythm section, heavier, tighter, and more propulsive than ever, drives the songs forward while horns careen over duelling vocals and interweaving guitars.

Never repeating themselves, always pushing forward artistically and never settling, Cursive return to raise the bar with yet another groundbreaking new album, "Another Hit Record” as "Follow-Up to Hit Record”. Welcome to 'Happy Hollow'.