Album Review- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!- New Fragility

I’m nostalgic for the music of 2003-2004.

It’s not supposed to be like that. Music is youthful nostalgia, maybe even rediscovering history. It would be a stretch to call me a youth in 2003.

But it was an exciting time for music and the two bands at the top of the list for me were The Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

It wasn’t just those two. A quick glimpse back reveals many interesting debuts- some monumental, others sleds celebrated but equally noteworthy.

The Killers. Franz Ferdinand. Bloc Party. The Editors. The Thermals. Danger Mouse. British Sea Power. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Go Team. The Rapture. The Darkness and undoubtedly some I have forgotten.

Then too, many artists who seemed to be at the height of their powers (White Stripes, Green Day, Radiohead, Wilco, The Strokes, OutKast, Interpol, Peaches, The Libertines, etc)

But those two bands I first mentioned really symbolize that time for me. Both seemed to be fairly universally loved and both seemed very ambitious and different from most anything else.

While Arcade Fire has remained acclaimed, CYHSY! quietly has disappeared. Follow up Some Loud Thunder got mixed reviews (and an unappealing cover) but I did enjoy it, and most everything else has been off most people’s radar until 2021’s New Fragility.

Perhaps even then, it may have gone unnoticed had it not been released in music-starved February and was preceded by a ton of the band’s early bonus tracks released to streaming services (including the worthwhile 2009 Flashy Python album).

Initial listens may thrill the listener with nostalgia, but quickly, it becomes apparent that Alec Ounsworth was probably never going to be a pop star. This album feels different because it is different. The band is largely Ounsworth now and critics will point out setbacks in his personal life, but what that means for the listener is an album that is more in the mold of the great intimate indie singer-songwriter album, and less a bid to be the next Talking Heads.

None of which is to imply it isn’t an accessible album (it is quite accessible) or it will have an appeal to everyone. Or it doesn’t get loud (check out Innocent Weight) or go the traditional ballad route (Mirror Song).

Maybe more than most records, mileage will truly vary, and with perspective, this disc is probably closer to the more recent work of Ezra Furman (raw lo-fi and punk inspired folk) than it is to some of those heroes of ‘04, but it is a worthy listen and a nice return of a once again vital artist.