Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Some Loud Thunder - Album Review

Brooklyn band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah return to release their second album Some Loud Thunder. Their self-titled debut was very well received after some rave reviews.

First impressions are not good. The opening title song is simply too distorted to be enjoyable. It sounds like it could be a good or even great song, but the continual blasts in your ears simply make it painful to listen to. Bizarrely, it's intentional. Big mistake in my books. However, they did the same with their circus announcer opener of the last album and in time I got over that. It's sad skipping the opening track every time - as I do with their previous album, but the rest partly makes up for it.

This album doesn't have the same sort of sing-along, catchiness to it and is a somewhat darker, more dense compilation. There are still some great tracks and they have experimented with their sound but what made their debut great was their all out energy, speed and application of themselves. I believe they have lost some of these ingredients at parts here.

Following the ear-bashing opener, is Emily Jean Stock with it's light strumming and Alec's voice accompanied by high pitched backing vocals and then Mama, Won't You Keep Them Castles in the Air and Burning? another slower, more "down to earth" track.

My personal favourite from this album is Satan Said Dance. With it's dancy, beepy, electronic assistance, with it's bizarre sing-along chorus, it makes it a track which I can listen to over and over. In fact on short car trips, it's the only one I listen to.

When listening to the first album I had to get used to the singers voice. This time I don't. And while obviously I've gotten familiar with it, but also there is less of what critics call the "over-wavering nasal singing" that was on their debut.

Goodbye to Mother and the Cove follows in the vein of the slower, downbeat trend through most of the album.

Yankee Go Home most sounds like it belongs on their first album. An energetic, riff-laden theatrical effort. It also has lines ending in words that use Alec's wail the most effectively.

The 2 pre-final songs are more life-like, enjoyable and upbeat but then it the experience is let down by the finale Five Easy Pieces with Alec dragging out words with an annoying cave-like echo. While the lyrics make a nice poem, the song is simply a drag to listen to.

Overall there are some good tracks, a couple of very good tracks, some ok and some duds. If you are expecting a fantastic album after all the hype, you may be in for a disappointment. If you are simply interested in which direction they have taken, then you may like it, but I would think many would be disappointed. Unfortunatley, I am somewhat.



Track listing:
1. Some Loud Thunder
2. Emily Jean Stock
3. Mama, Won't You Keep Them Castles in the Air and Burning?
4. Love Song No.7
5. Satan Said Dance
6. Upon Encountering the Crippled Elephant
7. Goodbye to Mother and the Cove
8. Arm and Hammer
9. Yankee Go Home
10. Underwater (You and Me)
11. Five Easy Pieces

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah website: www.clapyourhandssayyeah.com
Free MP3s (legit): Love Song No. 7
Underwater (You and Me)
Myspace Page: www.myspace.com/clapyourhandssayyeah