Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Electric Ballroom

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah wowed critics in 2005 with their self-titled debut album, built around singer Alec Ounsworth’s quirky vocal delivery and cryptic lyrics (“a clean shave in the morning/and a full beard with no warning” he whines on Over and Over Again) along with endearingly lo-fi production. The band were also notably one of the first acts to find popularity through a heavy internet presence. Their first album was distributed by the band independently even before they had signed any record deal.

The band are now touring their latest album Only Run. The ragged arrangements and patchwork soundscape of their debut and its follow up, Some Loud Thunder, are here given focus, fusing their early sound with their dance-influenced 2011 album Hysterical.

While the synth and guitar arrangements from the first album remain, the new songs are given depth and gravity by the expansive production and stately rhythms that replace the frenetic energy of the early releases.

Frontman and multi-instrumentalist Alec Ounsworth dominates the record, as the songs veer from fuzzy guitar thrash to lucid synths, with drummer Sean Greenhalgh underpinning the newly mature songwriting.

Expect the duo’s indie rock euphoria to make for a memorable night in Camden.