Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is an American indie rock group from Philadelphia, active since 2004. The band is led by Alec Ounsworth and includes Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, Sean Greenhalgh and Lee Sargent.

Formation and early line-up

The group forms in New York City, but its members attend Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. Until 2012, the line-up also includes Lee Sargent, Robbie Guertin and Tyler Sargent in their earlier roles, while Sean Greenhalgh plays drums until 2014.

Debut album and early recognition

The band’s self-titled debut album is recorded by Adam Lasus and self-released in 2005. It attracts attention through MP3 blogs and receives a favourable review from Pitchfork Media, which names it “Best New Music”. Demand for the record is high enough that the band has to repress the CD after the initial run proves too small. David Bowie and David Byrne are later seen at some of the band’s shows, and Rolling Stone describes them as the “Hot New Band” for 2005.

Label releases and later recordings

In October 2005, the band signs to Wichita Recordings in the UK. Its second album, Some Loud Thunder, is released in early 2007 in the UK and the United States. A live release, Live at Lollapalooza 2007: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, appears on iTunes later that year and features the group’s full set recorded at Lollapalooza in August 2007.

In 2011, the band announces its third album, Hysterical, produced by John Congleton. That same year it also issues a remastered vinyl reissue of the debut album. A video for “Maniac”, directed by Belgian filmmaker Pieter Dirkx, follows. In 2013 the band releases the four-track EP Little Moments through its Bandcamp page. The EP is recorded in Alec Ounsworth’s home studio and mixed and mastered by the band itself, with 500 ten-inch vinyl copies made available. Its sound makes greater use of synths and drum machines and fewer guitars, and two of its songs later appear in different form on Only Run. The group completes Only Run in late 2013, and its first single, “Coming Down”, features vocals from Matt Berninger of The National.