Posts Tagged ‘The Drums’
Album Review: The Drums – ‘The Drums’
The hype surrounding Brooklyn’s The Drums has been steadily growing since the release of their 2009 ‘Summertime!’ EP. It’s not hard to see why. These guys tick all the ‘hip/cool’ boxes: Eighties throwback sound? Check. Wistful, self-pitying lyrics? Check. Kooky, sparse instrumentation? Check. So is this just another case of ‘cool one minute, gone the next’ (yes, I’m looking at YOU, most ‘indie’ bands to appear in the last 4 years or so), or do we have some genuine contenders on our hands? Well, unfortunately, the answer falls somewhere in the middle.
Personally, I have been interested in hearing what The Drums could accomplish on a full-length ever since I picked up ‘Summertime!’ on the strength of the fantastic ‘I Felt So Stupid’ single. That EP flowed with summery, good-time vibes and a Smiths-like verve. ‘Summertime!’ was the sign of a band that had a knack for writing simple, decent pop songs, which is all well and good. But on ‘The Drums’, the band has shown little else. As with their EP, the singles are the stand-out tracks. Opener ‘Best Friend’ presents the listener with an overall idea of the album, with its gloomy lyrical content disguised against a bouncy backdrop; whereas ‘Forever and Ever Amen’ is probably the best song on the album, littered with synth flourishes and sounding surprisingly massive at times. The latter seems to prove that when the band do away with their backed-off style of playing, the results are phenomenal. ‘Me and the Moon’ – an album highlight – really kicks with a kind of New Order-ish swagger, and that eighties, peppered-with-reverb production serves the band well even on weaker tracks.
Overall, I’d say don’t quite buy into the hype yet. ‘The Drums’ is a record, kind of like ‘It’s Blitz!’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, that is designed to make you dance and depressed at the same time, but doesn’t quite display the kind of accomplished song-writing you’d expect to find on a band tipped as the next big thing. However, if you’re into bands like The Smiths, The Cure and New Order, you’ll probably see this as the ideal soundtrack to your summer. Approach with caution.
