San Francisco post-punk trio Erase Errata are readying their first new album since 2006’s Night Life, and following the disc’s debut single, “My Life in Shadows,” they’ve got a second track to share: “History of Handclaps.”
Overflowing with twitchy, jagged guitar-work, brassy horns, and — yes — the titular bodily thwacks, “History” shamelessly encourages a dance floor invasion. “We have an all-star cast of hand-clappers and back-up singers on the song,” Erase Errata singer and guitarist Jenny Hoyston tells SPIN over email. “Luckily, we found a guy in Iowa City who was willing to loan me his trumpet for the day. I don’t think the song would be the same without the horn lines.”
After chanting their way through the equal parts angular and rotative cut, Hoyston, Ellie Erickson, and Bianca Sparta polish off the vocal with “It’s the history of the clap… It’s the history of the clap” — a smirk-worthy line, delivered straight-faced enough that we can’t be entirely sure if it’s meant to inspire dirty-minded chuckles. “It definitely has bizarre lyrics. It was so fun to write and record,” says Hoyston. “I imagine it’s the silliest thing [backing vocalist] William Eliot Whitmore‘s ever participated in tracking.”
Listen to “History of Handclaps” above, and look out for Lost Weekend when it drops January 20 via Under The Sun Records.
