Clap Your Hands Talk New LP
It's due out January 30 on their own label

We love Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and all, but that self-titled debut from last year is getting kinda boring. They need new tunes! We sat down yesterday with CYHSY guitarist/keyboardist Lee Sargent for a brief chat about just that-- the new tunes, new direction, new album, new producer, and that plain old self-released approach.

As previously reported, mighty Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Sleater-Kinney, Low) will produce CYHSY's sophomore full-length, which has no title yet, but is set to arrive January 30. The band wrapped up recording a short while ago, and received the master for LP2 just the other day. "There might be some revisions to it," said Sargent, "but we're done." Applaud and yell affirmatives, folks!

So what can the legions of Clap-o-philes expect? "The songs are really different-- it's an entirely different thing from the first one. There are certain elements that tie it to the first one, but there's a lot more going on, we had the resources to make it a little more involved...[and] we just had a lot of time to try out some different things."

Don't worry though, it's not like they're rapping about their new website or something. According to Lee, "different" here means "the arrangements are more complex." This certainly holds true for new tunes "Some Loud Thunder" and "Satan Said Dance", both set to appear on the next album, and another recent jam, "The Sword Song", which Lee says likely won't.

Now, the big question for these DIY posterboys: who's putting out the new record? "It's going to be the same arrangement as the first one," said Lee. "Wichita is going to put it out in the UK, and they get distributed by V2 in other parts of the world, but we're going to hold onto it in the U.S. and do it the same way we did the first one."

For CYHSY, the decision to go without a U.S. label once again was motivated by practicality more than bleeding-heart ethics. "The first one worked out nicely doing it that way, so there's really been no discussion to even consider changing that arrangement."

Working with Fridmann, Sargent recalled, was "awesome."

"He's just really good at coloring the songs, and his production is unique-- he makes things really sort of gritty, but in a nice way. He has really tasteful approaches to adding little things here and there, and just...fills out the songs."

Before attending to new album business, however, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah must first wrap up their fall tour with friends Architecture in Helsinki and Takka Takka, then jet off to Japan for three gigs. They'll also play Mexico City and close out the year with a sure-to-be star-studded New Year's Eve gala at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.

Clap responsibly:

10-04 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
10-06 Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre *
10-07 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater *
10-10 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
10-11 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
10-12 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
10-13 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater *
10-14 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre *
10-15 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre *
10-29 Osaka, Japan - Club Quattro
10-30 Nagoya, Japan - Club Quattro
11-01 Tokyo, Japan - Stellar Bar
11-11 Mexico City, Mexico - Estadio Azteca
12-31 New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom

* with Architecture in Helsinki, Takka Takka