Review: The Drums, The Drums

The Drums
The Drums

7.4/10

If The Strokes, The Cure, The Smiths, and the Beach Boys all got together had a baby (science is close!), they would name it The Drums. Well, actually, first they’d name it Goat Explosion, and then change their minds to Elkland, before finally settling on The Drums. Despite their apparent indecision in the name department, the band now known as The Drums consciously borrowed elements from several new-wave indie pop giants and beach bums of yore to spawn a band that looks and sounds like a little bit of all of them.

The simple surfer riffs and beachy beats of The Drums’s second album, The Drums, closely follows up the sound introduced in their September 2009 debut, Summertime!. Singles like “Best Friend” and “Let’s Go Surfing” are fun, familiar, and super catchy—perfect staples to any summer playlist. On their website, The Drums explain that they “only write about two feelings: one is the first day of summer when you and all of your friends are standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun set and being overcome with all of your hopes and dreams at once. The other is when you're walking alone in the rain and realize you will be alone forever."

With tried and true (and all alliterations aside, maybe a little trite) 60s beats, 80s emotion, and earnest, repetitive lyrics, almost every song from The Drums is practically guaranteed to end up stuck in your head. How long it’ll stick around when September rolls around, though, is another question. If The Drums amp up their creativity level and branch out from their cozy cove of well-curated influences, they could potentially be around long enough to inspire the next pretty-boy surfer-pop band.

Recommendations: “Best Friend”, “Let’s Go Surfing”, “Me and the Moon” (not because I especially love it but because it is at least a little bit different sounding.)

-- Emma Forster