Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

The DIY success of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was surely a promising story way back in 2005. Garage bands and dudes with nasally voices regained faith in the can-do spirit that so often is squashed. Some Loud Thunder sees Clap Your Hands remaining label-less and should have record labels breathing a sigh of relief—relief they didn't plunk down anything for this. The step back this group has taken is quite remarkable. On Thunder, they deliberately make songs sound distorted, as if your speakers were on the fritz, leaving vocals—and actual sounds by instruments—muddy. The lead single "Satan Said Dance" recalls Talking Heads-y funk (or the Pointer Sisters—it sort of sounds like "Jump! (For My Love)") but is ruined by children chanting the chorus. The tracks that aren't mucked up by bad decisions are just boring. "Love Song No. 7" tries to be introspective and slow, but fizzles. You can't fault Clap Your Hands for not making the same album again, but if Some Loud Thunder suggests anything, it's that the group is still in its infancy and possibly perplexed as to what to do. We're left with the realization they might not be the second coming after all.