Clap Your Hands Say Yeah may forever be pigeonholed as one of the first “blog bands.” Its self-titled, self-released debut became popular through word-of-blog acclaim upon arrival in 2005. The Philly/Brooklyn quintet, led by Alec Ounsworth, navigated the success well, but 2007’s Some Loud Thunder revealed that CYHSY was as interested in outsider weirdness as it was in indie-pop hooks. Yet it suffered a seemingly inevitable backlash from the fickle blogosphere, as did 2011’s Hysterical. In that LP’s aftermath, the band shed members and disappeared until late last summer, when Little Moments arrived. That four-song EP set the tone for the vibe that threads through Only Run, the new CYHSY album, which updates one of the EP’s songs as its title track. Ounsworth will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com. Read our new CYHSY feature.
http://vimeo.com/33659288
Ounsworth: When I was last in Liverpool for a show, I stumbled into the Walker Art Gallery. There was an exhibit with the works of John Kirby. I had never heard of John Kirby, but entry was free so I decided to have a look around. His work is startling. It feels at once distant and near and reminds me of when I was young and the world was so fucking big and confusing. Long story short, I went to the museum store bought the book. I had wanted to ask him for an illustration for the most recent Clap Your Hands’ album but chickened out. Maybe next time …
