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Label: Holiday Records - Rating:
Are any of you still friends with the same people when you were in summer camp? I can’t say that I am. Too much time, too much moving, too much life has gotten in the way. Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham have done just that though. All while keep a their music dreams intact along the way.
After making and exhausting certain bands along the years (Goat Explosion, Elkland, Horse Shoes) the boys decided to start ‘The Drums’ based solely on synthesizers and guitars (two instruments they didn’t know how to play) which eventually led to their newly underground success (NME claims them to be the best band to come out of NYC in the past 10 years). Hyped enough for you? Good.
Putting their brains together Jonathan and Jacob learned as much as possible and constructed an six song album which can is described as a summery glitz post punk pop. Emphasis on Pop. A bit strange for an album this tame and innocent to be released in the latter part of this oh so happy year, but I’m sure there’s a reason for it. Maybe that’s where the punk fits in, I’m not sure.
The first song ‘Saddest Summer’ starts out fast. Hand claps, what! Sweet bass line, nice! “If you’ve got a boyfriend, well go kiss him, if you got a girlfriend, well go kiss her, cause she needs it, she wants it, yeah, he needs it, yeah, he’s gotta have it.” they yell manically as a fast guitar lick kicks in behind them. Super pop indeed. This track is filled with it and moves at a schizophrenic light speed.
Next song ‘Lets go surfing’ well, is about, going surfing. In NYC? Sure! The bass line on this track is pretty infectious but grasping onto the innocent ideals of the 50’s isn’t something that really makes me want to sing along with this whole thing. It’s all about what you like I suppose.
‘Make you mine’ carries the same message in the lyrics. Carried along with more hand claps Jonathan sings, “And I don’t know what to do, when I see you holding someone elses hand, and I don’t know what to say, I always sound so stupid. How am I gonna make you mine? How am I gonna make you mine?” Yes. We’ve all been there. It’s true.
This album isn’t going to excite the alternative crowd or hard punkers (it might, who knows) but will relate to the teenagers and early twenty crowd who might be feeling a lot of what The Drums talk about. You should listen to a few tracks either way, might be the type of innocence you’ve forgotten about.
Like The Drums? Check Out: Surfer Blood, The Pain of Being Pure at Heart, Fool’s Gold
