The Drums (CD)

Highly anticipated 2010 full length debut album from the New York Post-Punkers. The four-piece played on the NME Awards Tour alongside the Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club and the Big Pink. They entered 2010 as one of the most tipped acts in the media. They featured at #5 in BBC Sound Poll 2010 and were #1 in Shazam. MSN, Pitchfork, MTV, the Observer, the Sunday Times Culture, Sunday Express, the Daily Mirror, the Sun, Heat and Q. Features the singles 'Forever And Ever, Amen' and 'Best Friend'. Island.

The Drums became the buzz band of summer 2009 with the irresistible Summertime! EP, and their self-titled debut album arrived a year later with the song that generated all the commotion. "Let's Go Surfing" is re-recorded here, boasting major-label polish and softer, more thoughtful verses, but that whistled hook is as irrepressible as ever, and as instantly recognizable as Peter Bjorn and John's "Young Folks" was a few years earlier. The rest of The Drums makes it even clearer that the band isn?t afraid to be pop with a capital P, and that the Drums know and love every trick in the pop handbook. The album is drenched in glossy reverb and awash in handclaps and harmonies, all of which help unite the band's fetishes for spindly '80s indie guitars, innocent '50s melodies, and tinny drum machines and synths. They've also got a knack for picking singles: "Forever and Ever Amen" has some bite in its beats, but it's still a perfect soundtrack to a summertime fling; the ultra post-punky "It Will All End in Tears" is the brisk and heartbroken aftermath. Indeed, the poignancy of summer giving way to fall informs many songs on The Drums, and the bandmembers spend as much time with tears in their eyes as they do going to the beach. They're skilled at writing lonesome love stories such as "Me and the Moon" and joyous breakup songs like "Book of Stories," both of which bury their sting with jaunty melodies and synth washes. As immediate as the band's songs are, their workings are interesting in their own right. The way the Drums juxtapose the heightened emotions of '50s and early-'60s pop with the often-jaded moods of post-punk and indie is fascinating, with "Down by the Water"'s slow dance haze sharing space with "Best Friend"'s impatient yelps. The way their riffs borrow equally from Buddy Holly and the Smiths shows that the jangly simplicity of those styles isn't so far removed after all. Even when the band's songwriting falters -- "I Need Fun in My Life" and "I'll Never Drop My Sword" are a touch too simple and repetitive compared to what came before -- The Drums' sound is still distinctive, and even if the album feels a little calculated at times, it's still greater than the sum of its parts. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi

Performer	The Drums
Music genre	Rock
Music subgenre	CD - INDIE ROCK/POP
Music release type	Release
Media format	CD
Original release date	2012
Edition	Imported ed.
Language	English
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Series title	Drums - Drums [CD]
Track listing	Best Friend,Me and the Moon,Let's Go Surfing,Book of Stories,Skippin' Town,Forever and Ever Amen,Down By the Water,It Will All End in Tears,We Tried,I Need Fun in My Life,I'll Never Drop My Sword,The Future
Record label	Downtown
Track name	Forever And Ever, Amen
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N