The Drums are the latest band to emerge from Brooklyn in a wave of hype and ‘Ones To Watch’ lists.  We all know we’re becoming a bit numb to these now, generally fuelled as they are by labels deciding who’s going to get the long end of their wedge over the next twelve months.  However, The Drums should not be tainted by this association, but rather embraced as a welcome and alternative addition.

It is virtually impossible to review them without the phrase ‘surf-rock’ somewhere in the text and, much as I’d like to not be like the rest I’ve just done it so there.  It's so gloriously upbeat, so emminently danceable that it just does sound like music to paddle to, which is a marvellous thing and a nice antidote to the abrasive synths or lower-than-lo-fi punk sounds that are spread everywhere like a particularly offensive sandwich spread at the moment.

With its bouncing guitars and instantly recognisable chorus of ‘I don’t know if it’s right or wrong/ But come stay with me/ I wana hear every bit of your heart’ there’s an intrinsically positive vibe to ‘I Felt Stupid’, not unlike fellow Big Apple-ers Vampire Weekend.  Like Koenig and pals, Talking Heads are also a reference point with the cheery lackadaisical beats not sounding unlike something off 77.  This lot are releasing their first album next year, but before this are playing on the NME Awards tour with The Maccabees, Big Pink and the not-very-good Bombay Bicycle Club; by the end of that suspects they will be on their way to indie crossover status.

Posted In Single Reviews, Dec 07 2009. Words - David