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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Chairlift @ BAM

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Friday, 20 February 2009 11:12


Over the course of their sets, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Chairlift said little, choosing to let the music speak for chairliftitself. Well maybe not exactly for itself since BAM had nicknamed the night “Sounds Like Brooklyn.”

Chairlift plays their own brand of pop music full of noises that could easily be heard on the soundtrack for Twin Peaks. It’s moody, creepy, and haunting, but somehow still beautiful. The threesome barely took up a ¼ of the BAM stage, but luckily Caroline Polachek’s voice carried. She yelped on “Garbage,” crooned on “Earwig Town,” and got a little androgynous on “Territory.” She manages to combine all three for “Planet Health.”

The band seems to play like they don’t know anyone is watching, which is especially interesting when there is a crowd of 2,000 sitting right in front of them. Guitarist Aaron Pfenning spends a lot of time shoegazing. Patrick Wimberly moves back and forth between the drums and the bass while Polachek stays behind the keyboard spending most of her time peaking out behind a curtain of hair.

Though the band sounded a lot like their debut, Does You Inspire You, sound issues made some songs frustrating. Pfenning was inaudible for his solo on “Bruises” and the guys’ backup vocals on “Evident Utensil” (one of the best parts of the song!) seemed nonexistent. Of course this isn’t their fault, since from where I was sitting it was clear their mouths were moving.

The crowd wasn’t much help either, staying pretty lackluster throughout the set. The loudest response was for the night’s sponsor, J.P. Morgan Chase. Fortunately we all understand sarcasm.

When Clap Your Hands Say Yeah came out the crowd definitely picked up, literally since the guys invited everyone to get on stage. Unfortunately no one really got on stage, but the first ten rows did crowd upfront, making it seem  more like a rock show. With retirement apparently looming in the future, the band played a mix of songs from cyhsy
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Some Loud Thunder, and some new ones from that third album that has been put on the shelf. Those songs were simply dubbed “songs you didn’t know” by lead singer Alex Ounsworth.

Ounsworth, looking like some sort of psychedelic newsie in striped pants and a crocheted hat, sounded shaky and quivering just as he should on CYHSY favorites like “Over and Over Again (Lost and Found).” Fans seemed willing to join adding their own rousing screams of “child stars” during “Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood.” I think we were all happy to see Ounsworth bring out the megaphone for “Some Loud Thunder,” but the best was “Mama, Won’t You Keep Them Castles in The Air and Burning?,” which was a lot more frenetic than the album version.

These guys sure didn’t seem like a band ready to take a break, so I’m pretty sure they’re pulling a Tina Turner and will back out there by the end of the year. Details of that anticipated third album still pending.

Words by: Shannon Carlin

Chairlift photo by: Jason Klauber

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah photo by: Rahav Segev

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