Obsession: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

Maybe it's because it's the middle of the summer and I'm thousands of miles from the Atlantic Ocean, but damned if I'm not listening to Clap Your Hnads Say Yeah's eponymous debut every day of the week, dreaming of the boardwalks of Brooklyn and the decayed, garbage-strewn streets of the cities of the Northeast, squinting through beer-soaked eyes as the sun dips over the gently rolling hills with my indie rock T-shirt on. I won't lie, it's been a rough, hungry, twisted-in-knots summer, and I credit these guys -- all around my age if their photos are any indication -- with propping my posture up a bit more where it would have otherwise slumped. Read: I love this album.

Without getting into a track-by-track analysis, suffice to say these guys excel in tackling a hard-bitten world and rendering it something lazily, drunkenly hopeful, like a sunny/green-grass Sunday morning walk of shame from a night spent with someone of actual interest. In the maniacal Coney Island call-and-reponse of the opening track, singer Alec Ounsworth pleads with a cynical, late-20 something chorus of voices to give a shit, in spite of all post-9/11 indications to the contrary:

ALEX: Just clap your hands! -- CHORUS: But I feel so lonely...
Just clap your hands! -- But it won't do nothing...
Just clap your hands! -- But i have no money...
Just clap your hands! -- But it don't seem likely...
Just clap your hands! -- Are you up to something?...
Just clap your hands! -- Where's my milk and honey?...
Just clap your hands! -- But it does look funny...

You can hear more here.

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