Coming from the same camp as sleepmakeswaves and We Lost the Sea, cinematically-inclined instrumental post-rock band clayhands – it’s all in the lower case – now enter the scene.

I liked the symphonic start. With a patient build up, there were signs that something big was going to happen. The willowy sound itself suggests a dawn on a spring day. There is a chattering sound in the background. “Godolphin” is calming and very easy to get along with. Intriguingly the calm becomes unsettled, and the symphony takes on a light jazzy air. All the while the constancy is in the drum beat. Waves run through the now tense and unconventional sound. The end of “Goldolphin” is nicely rounded, as quiet piano work takes us back to the spring day. By contrast “Orchid” starts as if we’re in a sound laboratory or an experimental music studio. From the grounded “Godolphin”, there’s a lofty air with hints of magic, melancholy and the East. A distinctively post-rock guitar line combines with the drum beat to bring calm and order back into our lives. At this point I could see where the comparisons with Yes and King Crimson might have come from. Let me add Mike Oldfield to that list. clayhands guide us through a world of dreams, a pleasant one I must say. “Orchid” is a super warm track, giving justification to the band’s self-description as a “human band”. So “Murking” takes us on a floaty and evocative journey over a landscape of our imagination. clayhands are not averse to a bit of sound distortion, which adds a little spice, but above all it’s about the dream, or at least for me it was. Mid-way “Murking” breaks out into darker and more sonically avant-garde territory, and in an inspired touch, a saxophone heightens the melancholic touch which was always there. The end is frenzied in its way, but the calmness is restored with the depressive opening of “The Boy Left”. This is a swankier, jazzier piece, and one whose structure develops into a progressive avant-garde field. It’s very different and very dynamic. In my mind as I listened to “Polars”, I pictured a screen behind the band with a big sky but also one which reflects the delicacy of nature. The scene transforms and at one point the lush jazzy sound was depicting for me the sound of urban night life and maybe a touch of danger. clayhands are very subtle about this, and for sure do not operate in straight lines as sharp electronic waves impinge on the soft scene and introduce edginess. Away we go again, but this time on the 15 minute journey that is “Playgrounds”. Sharp rock guitar works through the ever-dreamy backdrop. Worlds collide but in a gentle way as jazz funk intertwines with mellow symphony, and the familiar light post-rock rhythm. Calm melancholy prevails but we are comforted by that delicate and reliable technical pattern. The tempo picks up but we continue to dream and float with the electronic wave. The guitar enters the ambient scene and provides force and intricacy. It’s a sophisticated setting and one where it is possible to be overwhelmed, but so too one which it is possible to imbibe like a medicinal remedy. Sounds merge as the album closes but it’s a comforting end to this mystical journey.

So it’s a definite “yes” from me. Something big did happen but not in the way that I first expected. “Is This Yes?” is not loud or boastful. It is evocative and subtle, dreamy and dark. This album spoke to me. clayhands use their creativity and imagination to fire my imagination, and I’m all for that.

(9/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://facebook.com/clayhands59

https://clayhands.bandcamp.com