CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH! (London Camden Roundhouse, 10/10/14)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! were the third band I ever reviewed for a proper publication way back in '05, and if I recall correctly (this was in the middle of my student days, so one can't take that for granted) they were bloody awful. Squawkmeister-in-chief Alec Ounsworth stood there, transfixed like a deer in the headlights, confining his interaction with the audience to a muted "thanks". His fellow musicians rattled through the songs competently enough, but it was impossible not to get the distinct impression they'd rather be anywhere else in the world but a student bar in Leeds (a position I can certainly sympathise with.) It almost put me off CYSHY! for life. But after being exposed to their most recent album I decided to give them another shot- and it was like watching a completely different band. Literally, in that the only original member left is Ounsworth himself, but also in that they were very, very good indeed. Alec's transformed into an impressive frontman- he'll never be Springsteen, but he now knows how to convey his off-beat intensity to a live audience; and his new band's frantic energy hugely enhances the likes of "The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth" (which remains one of the best indie-rock songs of the last ten years). A most pleasant surprise.