Some Loud Thunder - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Some Loud Thunder

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Self-released.

SCQ Rating: 73%

Just about everything pertaining to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah requires some degree of acquired taste. Alec Ounsworth sounds closer to a mountain Sherpa than a lead singer, warbling and yodeling over jangly indie-rock. Their album art resembles ink-blotted school texts and their fame is heavily crutched upon a blogosphere’s fickleness. They remain unsigned to any label in North America and even their name is pushing it. Like your first few bottles of red wine, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah take a few furrowed brows and gag-reflexes before you successfully find yourself light-headed.

Thank god for that authentic indie-cred, then, which should keep them relevant in wake of this sophomore’s lukewarm reception. Make no mistake: Some Loud Thunder didn’t go over so well with critics or fans. Beyond the unearthly catchiness of ‘Satan Said Dance’, fans saw little in the vein of their debut’s carefree exuberance to feed from and as quickly as CYHSY rose to the height of buzzworthiness, the retraction letters began pouring in. Personally, as far as a follow-up to their 2005 disc is concerned, I think CYHSY were fucked no matter what. Recording another spunky collection of misfit rock songs would’ve labeled them one-trick ponies, while delving into art-rock weirdness would’ve disappointed fans who only recognized them via a half-hour’s worth of spunky misfit-rock. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!

Underwhelming reactions aside, Some Loud Thunder is a sometimes brilliant, all the time confounding record that works to create a loyal fanbase instead of amassing a new league of casual downloaders. ‘Goodbye to Mother and the Cove’ pairs some of Ounsworth’s best lyrics to intertwining guitars and subtle bass stabs in a contemplative song that would’ve been as gloriously out of place on their debut as ‘Five Easy Pieces’; an hypnotic raga of indiscernible chants and hazy atmospherics. Occasionally their attempts at diverse song arrangements come out undercooked, like on ‘Arm and Hammer’ and ‘Yankee Go Home’, neighbouring tracks that resemble rough demos and drag the album’s second half down.

Even though Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is clearly the better record, I must say that Some Loud Thunder was the litmus test that left me lightheaded. Suddenly the Brooklyn band’s sound feels less gimmicky, Ounsworth’s vocals less ridiculous. Their juvenile cover-art seems purposeful (like Neil Young’s Zuma cover, maybe?), and they’ve remained strong on refusing to sign a label contract. By carefully branching out into stranger territory, CYHSY have given listeners an ultimatum: accept a song like ‘Some Loud Thunder’, obnoxious static and all, for what it is or catch the next blogger trend.