Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Turns 20
And away we go!
Not every great album can stand the test of time. Sometimes a record can capture a moment in time and uphold those feelings even if those appreciations lessen as we move forward. The debut album from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah arrived with such force that it disrupted so much of my listening life. 20 years later, the record may not have the same impact as it did when it first appeared, but it still resonates as a time capsule of such an important time and even if the music isn’t as immediate as it was on arrival, its significance remains and the songs might even be better than you remember even if it’s not the timeless achievement we once thought it was.
When Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released their self-titled debut on June 28, 2005, the sate of indie music wasn’t necessarily going through a massive change, or at least it didn’t feel like it at the time. After the “college rock” of the ‘80s had transformed into “indie rock” in the ‘90s, the new millennium did bring about the notion that “rock” could be dropped from the genre title and the label “indie” became ubiquitous with a sound that went far beyond your classic guitar, bass, and drum music. As the internet boom continued to explode, the way in which people accessed music was also changing. Personally, my life went from listening to alternative radio to flipping through the pages of as many music magazines as I could get my hands on in the hopes of discovering the next big thing. By 2005, and perhaps thanks to this record in particular, music blogs became the new wave of my future.
Blog-rock wouldn’t reclaim indie rock, but at the time, the shift felt monumental and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah felt like a huge reason as to why it was happening. After the explosion of Grunge in the ‘90s, everyone was on the hunt for the next Seattle, and there was a brief moment when it felt like the tides had shifted back to New York City as the epicenter of underground rock largely in part to all of the bands discussed in Lizzy Goodman’s phenomenal Meet Me in the Bathroom. However with the rise of the internet and new publications, it would soon mean that there was no longer the same need for a scene to birth new music. Now, bands could spring up from anywhere and suddenly arrive, fully formed, ready to take on the world.
That was certainly the case, it seemed, for Clap Your Hands Says Yeah. There weren’t any attention grabbing shows or lo-fi EPs to catch the ears of critics, but instead what we got was a full-length record made without the help of a label and passed out, by hand no less, to anyone willing to hit play. Eventually one of those CDs made its way to the Pitchfork office where the album was given the high praise of “Best New Music” and one of the highest scores of the year. Suddenly, this was a band that felt immediately important and perhaps the face of the future of music.
The album itself wasn’t exceptionally groundbreaking, but it was a rather singular sound that still doesn’t sound like much else today. On the surface, yes, it’s still guitars, bass, synths, and drums, but the warbled yelp of singer and mastermind Alec Ounsworth made it stick out. From the opening carnival-esque organs and twisted announcements, the album stuck out as the sound of the burgeoning hipster scene. Of course this would be the music embraced by dudes in raw denim, handlebar mustaches, and IPA lovers who embodied the style of what this music seemed to represent.
Still, the music itself was compelling. Once the intro breaks and gives way to the core sound of the band, you’re met with rather typical “indie rock” that’s full of rich melodies, striking rhythms, and a general feeling that something magical is actually happening here. The baroque stylings of Arcade Fire’s debut, the lo-fi charm of Neutral Milk Hotel, and the almost comical vocals of The Decemberists all are apparent here, but the album’s singular sound still made for something special and in the moment, it felt like the future.
The pomp and circumstances of “Clap Your Hands” imaginatively segues into the rush of “Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away” and the magical tendencies begin to creep in. Like vocals of an unsettling wizard, it can be hard to fully get onboard with the way these lyrics come out, but that’s what adds to the charm. If these were more straightforward and less challenging, they would’ve blended in with the rest of the musical world around them, but the vocals and words themselves added that extra sparkle to each of the songs.
At the center of the album lies it’s true gem and perhaps the song that holds up best twenty years later. “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” is purely of the moment, but with the swirly synths and swelling guitars, it makes for a striking centerpiece that still stands on its own as a great track of the 21st Century and when it wonderfully transitions into “Is This Love,” the magic really hits. The entire middle run of the record is the band at their tightest, with rolling drum beats, sizzling harmonica, and chugging guitar riffs that remind you exactly why this was at the center of the indie cannon and why it felt like it could, possibly change the world.
“Heavy Metal” is a far cry from the genre itself, but it does give the band its moment of intensity and power. The drumming here is the hardest on the record and a rather stunning moment of focus from the band. “This Home on Ice” has some swelling, shoegaze-like guitars that swirl together with Ounsworth’s vocals in one of the more transcendent ways and again crystalizes the band’s sound in some rather perfect melodies.
On the closer, “Upon this Tidal Wave of Young Blood,” the synths once again spin up something powerful, like an instant rush of nostalgia that still feels inspiring. It’s the sound of something pure, unfiltered, and ready to be embraced. There are many highlights on this record that may have been lost to the tides of time, but when this wave begins to rise, the flood of emotions come crashing back and it’s almost impossible to ignore the feelings that have long been associated with these songs. While they may be dormant now, they spring back to life to remind you that the hype was real and really was deserved.
Of all the records that felt defining of the moment, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah might be the one that faded the most. It probably didn’t help that the band never regained their critical acclaim with any subsequent album or that Ounsworth became the sole member over the years, but re-listening to the album today, helps to recall the joy that emanated from it in the first place. Twenty years later and the album still has that singular sound that no one, even the band themselves, ever really captured again and while it wasn’t the indicator of the future that many of us thought it would be, it still holds true and acts as a remarkable time capsule back into the state of music in 2005.
I only saw the band once, nearly a year after the album’s release, at Bonnaroo in 2006, but the energy of the crowd and the band certainly helped introduce me to a scene that would become my world over the past twenty years and for that, this album remains one of incredible importance. Blog-rock may have been a flash in the pan, but it’s what got me here and why you’re reading this today.