Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was always one of those bands I could only take in small doses before Alec Ounsworth's vocals would make me want to shove pins in my ear drums. And while his voice didn't change there is something about this album that allows me to happily listen to the whole thing all the way through...and then again. 

Maybe it's the subtle change in back beats or maybe it's because now Alec is the only surviving member of the band (this album is solely his steeze-o).

On previous albums there was this quase dance feel with a little too much time spent on the high hat and the four on the floor bass drum. You know, that umph cht umph cht umph cht type of vibe? At times it was just too much.

But on this new album, called The Tourist, it sounds like CYHSY has been listening to The War On Drugs. What went from quase dance now has this steady, hypnotizing beat highlighted by a straight bass line going ba da da da da da da da da da da. 

What, did my onomatopoeias not make sense? 

Just know that CYHSY sounds more like you are stuck in a dream than at an urban bar where everybody is drinking PBR and wearing stocking caps in August. 

The music on The Tourist is the perfect ying to Alec's yangy voice (that I'm actually kind of enjoying this time around). And while not all songs have that steady ba da da da da da da I absolutely love; it's enough to make my Dad loins sway, but still capture my fresh-out-of-college-nostalgia when most of my mix CDR's were highlighted by 'The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth.'