Taking less time to return than they did between 2007's
Some Loud Thunder and 2011's,
Hysterical,
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah nonetheless seem like they've taken quite a journey when you listen to 2014's
Only Run. Touted as a change in direction, primarily due to the band's heavier use of keyboards than on past recordings,
Only Run is also the first album
CYHSY recorded since parting ways with longtime members
Robbie Guertin and
Tyler Sargent in 2012. Rather than look for new members, lead singer/songwriter
Alec Ounsworth and drummer
Sean Greenhalgh forged onward as a duo (plus a few guest musicians), with
Ounsworth handling all the guitar, keyboard, accordion, and vocal duties, and
Greenhalgh tackling the percussion and synth programming. The result is that
Only Run is less a wholly new direction and more a balance between the art-rock experimentation of their 2005 debut and the dance-oriented, post-punk sound of
Hysterical. In fact, as with past recordings, many of the cuts on
Only Run, like "As Always" and "Coming Down," which features a spoken word appearance by
the National's
Matt Berninger, are moody yet driving rockers built around
Ounsworth's literate, ruminative croon. That said, there is a centered, focused quality to many of the tracks on
Only Run, as if the departure of
Guertin and
Sargent freed
Ounsworth up to fully explore the sounds in his own head. Musically,
Ounsworth and
Greenhalgh also strike a pleasing balance, mixing fuzzy sonic electric guitars and pounding drums, which they then set against abrupt acoustic piano lines and mathematical synths. The result is an album of beautiful juxtapositions, steeped with poetic gravitas that nonetheless never fails to soar. ~ Matt Collar
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