Everyone and their mother is riding on the shoulders of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah right now - championing them all the way to indie rock stardom. That is, at least until they get signed, then it's all for naught. But in the meantime, I'll be damned if mum and myself aren't hanging onto them for dear life, as well.

There are only a handful of albums released each year that I get really excited about after repeated listens. This year it's been albums by Architecture in Helsinki, Dungen, and Edan that I've been energized by the most, and CYHSY's self-released debut is right beside them.

On first listen, CYHSY might sound like one of those bands that lends itself to a sporty game of "spot the influence" the type of release that tends to get tossed aside once the novelty wears off. CYHSY, on the other hand, show enough talent and potential to avoid this pitfall and then some. Comparisons are being thrown about loosely with the five-piece outfit from Brooklyn, ranging from the obvious - Talking Heads, the Walkmen, and Yo La Tengo, to the more ambiguous - Modest Mouse and Neutral Milk Hotel. None of which is bad company to be in.

The common denominator throughout CYHSY though is David Byrne. Even a Heads veteran might second guess whether or not he had just discovered a goldmine of Heads' rarities if he weren't paying close attention. And while most of the album sounds like classic Talking Heads, a few tracks fetch slightly different allusions. "In This Home On Ice" is David Byrne fronting Yo La Tengo while "Is This Love" could've easily been found on the Walkmen's latest Bows + Arrows.
Despite all of its similarities, there's a distinguishing energy and swagger throughout CYHSY that makes it so appealing. The grand sweeping vocals on "Details of the War" would charm the pants off of any respecting indie girl and "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" will have hipsters air-grinding in the privacy of their bedrooms for years. CYHSY have created a distinctive and refreshing album that will win us over in the same fashion that the Arcade Fire did in 2004. 2005 is the year for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah…oh yeah!