Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (2005)

If anyone ever comes up with a definition that neatly encapsulates what indie music really stands for then Brooklyn’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah could provide the perfect illustration. Self-titled, self-recorded and self-released this debut takes some beating in the going it alone department. Not that the band needed to have worried because Clap Your Hands Say Yeah rivals Funeral for ear opening new discoveries in 2005. The first thing that strikes you about CYHSY’s music is main man Alec Ounsworth’s voice which resembles a mashup of David Byrne (Talking Heads) and Zed (Police Academy 2). Initially the spectacle is almost taxing but like all pearls it eventually curls into that part of the brain that falls in love with things. The music that weaves around this curiosity is elastic and inventive, tunes start off down one avenue and end up three streets away heading in the opposite direction. That’s not to say that you’ll have to put your thinking cap on to appreciate as the roving melodies float alluringly near the surface.

You don’t often you find an LP that is devoid of filler (hey even the sanatorium anthem ‘Clap Your Hands!’ has its uses) but CYHSY achieves this with unguarded glee. The song titles are winningly off the wall (the bands name is taken from a line of graffiti after all) but it’s the music that’ll floor you. ‘Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away’ is the albums first song and reveals CYHSY’s patchwork quilt array of talents. The vocals are unintelligible yet intriguing in their delivery, a bass pummels imperiously and a Velvet Underground like melange of guitars fills in the blanks. ‘Sunshine And Clouds And Everything Proud’ is one of purest spine tingling minutes ever and acts are the perfect curtain raiser for the albums pivotal event ‘Details Of The War’. The former is unlike anything you’ll have ever heard (unless you live next door to Dan Snaith) as a wind up clocks’ hourly chime is coerced into a gentle free flowing frolic. ‘Details Of The War’ sees Ounsworth pulling in the reins and his vocals are for once devoid of madness. The momentum continually threatens to move up a gear until the expected eruption arrives as a harmonica bleeds into the advancing chopping guitars.

‘The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth’, apart from being the title of this or any other year, is an Arcade Fire rampage of sound with a riff that is bereft of energy but infused with incalculable adventure. Alec hollers in that totally indecipherable way of his, those who can’t remember a single lyric from their favourite songs will be in their element. This is music to waffle along to without any need whatsoever to sync with the singers outpourings, in other words it will never reside on a shiny Karaoke disc. The song swoops and pirouettes for several minutes until its partner in crime ‘Is This Love?’ takes over on a similar skewed ramble. The nod to Talking Heads almost clones the original on ‘Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood’, where the lead singer is drenched in a organ dalliance until he stops making sense towards the end. Such devotion doesn’t make CYHSY any less original, in fact their scatty genius emerges fully augmented.

Only once does the band make a complete costume change on the shoegaze wonderland ‘In This Home On Ice’. All told it has been a good year for the much maligned genre what with Ambulance LTD upping the ante, Bloc Party raising the bar, Engineers slowing it down and now CYHSY applying the perfect finish. ‘In This Home On Ice’ pulsates under layers of out of focus guitars while Ounsworth freewheels like another chord change. You’ll likely fill a pint glass with your own tears such is its heart swelling glory. At this point dehydration is a distinct possibility if you were to allow yourself to be taken in by ‘Heavy Metal’. Here all manner instrumental possibilities are pulled into a freakish mix. The chorus sees the singer spit out a poltergeist that was using him as a host in an unrivalled example of exorcism put to music. The entrails exhibit some nice riffage and a drummer who ensures that the evil spirit is crushed. Thank the lord then for ‘Blue Turning Gravy’ that coolly puts a lid on the supernatural episode through some lovely guitar turns.

CYHSY are that rare animal that you’ll have to hunt down and mount on the nearest music playing device. Combining equal doses of humour, quirky melody and daft forays with sublime song writing abilities these New York boys may well run away with the laurels. The album plays seamlessly from one song to the next, which means that it’s often difficult to spot the changeover. Even though it is almost 40 minutes long your time together is often too short to corral all the innovative ideas. CYHSY is an album of special moments to be treasured over and over again and if you need cheering up it provides innumerable lessons towards that great realisation that life is for smiling.

Rating: 9/10

25 FREE Downloads. eMusic for your iPod® or any MP3 player