Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, leading up to this third studio release, have been an interesting case. Their self-titled debut album was a big success back in 2005, gaining the band not only a large and loyal fan-base, but also picking them up strong critical praise pretty much across the board. Some Loud Thunder, though, arrived two years later and was considered a disappointment both by the band’s supporters and the press. Then the band went quiet, stalling plans to record a third album with members heading in separate directions to work on different musical projects. Singer and songwriter Alec Ounsworth released an album with band Flashy Python, as well as putting out (a rather poor excuse of) a solo album; whilst other members flirted together in Uninhabitable Mansions, a band with Au Revoir Simone’s Annie Hart – while all the time fans were wondering if they’d ever re-group and, if they did, if they’d ever get back to their best. Though Hysterical sees them go closer than they’ve gone before, it’s by far a return to top form.

What could be frustrating for fans is that the album starts very promisingly indeed. Racing out of the blocks with ‘Same Mistake’ and ‘Hysterical’ – two tracks that scream for attention, and successfully get it through pace and energy – lead in to ‘Misspent Youth’, a slower, more heartfelt, more considered song where the emotion in Ounsworth’s strained voice shines through effectively.

‘Into Your Alien Arms’, the fifth of the album, is certainly a contender for the strongest track here. A song essentially of two parts – the first formed of Alec’s high-pitched and self-harmonised vocal being beautifully complemented by subtle synth; the second instrumental, with excellent roaring, groaning, and shrieking guitar sounds doing a wonderful job of singing where Ounsworth doesn’t – it feels whole, exciting, and complete. But the song’s appearance sparks a sudden and unstoppable plight.

Too often from this point in the album does a song pass without even having registered or, even worse, having annoyed. ‘Siesta (For Snake)’ for instance stands at only just over four minutes in length but feels easily double that, the vocals and overall track neither especially gripping nor emotive; whilst ‘In A Motel’ is a waste of three minutes fifty seconds, managing to be both minimal in structure and yet messily put together. ‘Maniac’, much like a number of other efforts here, comes across repetitive and boring, not least in part because of the over-whelming and out-of-place drums which drown out and obscure any charm that the song may have otherwise exuded. Although the final track of twelve ‘Adam’s Plane’ (with its sound surprisingly pleasantly sitting somewhere between The Flaming Lips and The Who) brings proceedings to an end on a punchy, satisfying positive, it’s helpless to stop the entire album feeling unbalanced, front-heavy and, at least partially, uninspired.

There are definite highlights here – perhaps most notably of which is the consistently impressive and inventive bass-lines that we hear throughout – and fans might feel slightly more optimistic about album number four (whenever that might come along) following listening to this. But ultimately, where Clap Your Hands Say Yeah demanded neck hairs stand to attention, Hysteria – much like Some Loud Thunder – seldom even gets close.