Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: A & E

Media Credit: Creative Commons Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (from left to right), Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, Alec Ounsworth, Sean Greenhalgh and Lee Sargent.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah hit it big in 2005 with their self-released, self-titled debut album. They were named "Hot New Band" in 2005 by Rolling Stone; they had David Bowie and The Talking Heads' David Byrne showing up at their shows, yet they received little to no airplay and no marketing techniques employed by any label. They became an instant indie hit by word-of-mouth and the growing attention that they received via the internet.

There was a big fuss over whether or not their sophomore release would be anywhere near the par that their debut set. Trying to match caliber with the attention that "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" received may be in vain, and many critics agree with this, but the band has stayed optimistic. Lead singer Alec Ounsworth spoke to Spin magazine about the potential backlash that this album could have brought.

"It becomes mundane to keep talking about this whole hype/backlash discussion. People start to lose the point. In my opinion, people should be approaching this album as if it were our first - or our third or our eighth."

"Some Loud Thunder" starts off as a distorted poppy-indie mess. At first listen, I thought the CD was corrupted, and then I shortly there after realized this was all done on purpose, a strange attempt at making some would-be embedded impact. It only had an effect on the thought that I could have wasted $10 on slop. I became very nervous. Luckily four minutes ended, in what seemed like 10, and I was introduced to the rest of the album.

"Some Loud Thunder" is less upbeat and melodic than their debut. It seems like they tried to take the album in too many scattered directions that will have some fans lost on a lower road, but hope lies ahead. With songs like "Emily Jean Stock," "Mama, Won't You Keep Them Castles In the Air Burning," "Satan Said Dance," "Goodbye to Mother and the Cove" and "Yankee Go Home," critics and fans alike remember why they are at this point in the first place. They make good music. Yes, Ounsworth sounds like a teenager battling with puberty, yet he somehow delivers great lyrics amidst a surplus of different instruments. The lyrics are sometimes unobtainable, but you'll be mumbling just so that you can sing-along.

And plus … they make an accordion cool.

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