Cursive

With Happy Hollow, Cursive proves that a band can evolve without completely overhauling its sound. On 2003’s The Ugly Organ, Cursive added cellist Gretta Cohn as well as an organist to its usual four-man lineup. For Happy Hollow, the quartet has added a full horn section, accordion and piano, making for a more danceable feel than previous Cursive releases. The driving rhythm section is the main reason Happy Hollow is set to become a standout among the band’s discography. But the album is still quintessential Cursive.

Happy Hollow‘s opening lyrics, “Welcome one / and welcome all / to our small town,” set the stage for a musical journey that continues through each track. The CD’s title is a satirical reference to the “home, sweet home” ideal, the theme of this concept album. Singer-songwriter Tim Kasher trades out the love-gone-wrong woes of past Cursive recordings for a new focus on life in suburbia and a depressing version of the American dream. He even toys with The Wizard of Oz, one of the best-known “home, sweet home” stories ever, with “Dorothy at Forty” exposing the memorable character to the harsh reality of life on this side of the rainbow: “Dreams are all you have / Dreams have held you back / Dreamers never live / Only dream of it.”

Kasher takes his songwriting skills to a new level; each Happy Hollow song is a complete story, yet also part of an album-long tale. With fresh soulful, bluesy and even gospel undertones, and a theme that ties all of the songs together, without binding them down, Happy Hollow shows why Cursive fans are rarely disappointed.