No, your headphones aren't broken. For indiscernible reasons, the rough opener on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's second album, Some Loud Thunder, has been produced with distortion so abrasive that it is hard to bear.
The five members of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah pressed their self-titled debut album in 2005, and they were met with unanticipated success and demand. The credit is largely due to music bloggers drawn to the band like bees to a summer picnic. Their collective buzz birthed a frenzied fan base.
But will the Internet crowd that created the group accept or reject the band's sophomore project? Though it's hard to tell if Some Loud Thunder is blogger-friendly, it definitely isn't radio-friendly.
The album sounds more like drunken yammering through a tin can telephone than anything well thought out. If listeners can get through the rough opener with its blown speaker quality, they will find jerky, messy rock.
Warbling vocals are joined by the chime of a tinny chorus, driven on by clapping and distorted drums in one of the record's best tracks, Emily Jean Stock. On this song and throughout the record, the melodies whirr and the vocals drag.
Alec Ounsworth's delivery at times comes through as a whiney, teasing sing-song. At others it is an exhausting drone.
Mama
Won't You Keep Them Castles in the Air and Burning? is tiring, while Satan Said Dance is harsh on the ears, with clips of what sounds like electronic complaint and an overall tone likened to the manic of a Talking Heads foray. Five Easy Pieces is awful ' repetitive and noisy.
Overall, the release is a flipped coin. It will evoke either fierce love or fierce hatred. Though it sounds a little tired, quiet, worn and lacks some of the magic of the band's first album, patiently waiting fans may gladly lap it up.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah sounds more untouchable the second time around. Like a distant, aerial photograph, Some Loud Thunder leaves the listener wanting more. A compelling rawness and closeness is lacking from the ethereal, wispy tracks ' and distortion is a cheap substitute. 17
Archives
Susie Shutts
CD to be released tomorrow
