Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - New Fragility LP

While Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has essentially always been a solo vehicle for lead singer/songwriter Alec Ounsworth, the group's introspective sixth album, 2021's New Fragility takes this idea to its fullest degree. Recorded and produced by Ounsworth in Austin, Texas with some additional production by Will Johnson, New Fragility is a poetic, deeply personal album that finds Ounsworth searching for an ever-deeper sense of meaning in what often feels like an increasingly tumultuous and fragile world. The album follows 2017's The Tourist, which itself was Ounsworth's first album as the sole remaining member of the band. While still steeped in his love of '70s and '80s post-punk textures, New Fragility plays as a proper solo album, spotlighting Ounsworth's literate songwriting style and distinctively nasal vocals. It's a sound with a raw-nerve quality that reinforces the soul-searching nature of the material. The opening "Hesitating Nation" and the title track are kinetic anthems, rife wit