The Drums/ The Drums

The Drums
The Drums
(Moshi Moshi)

There's a conspiracy theory out there that The Drums are at the forefront of a huge yet invisible marketing push - men in dark rooms with curly moustaches and globes which open up to reveal whiskey cabinets – you get the idea. However, I can't find any more damning evidence of this than a few positive reviews and a massive billboard poster in Camden. They're even signed to Moshi Moshi, which as far as I can tell isn’t controlled by Fox News via an invisible space satellite.
So scratch that theory mamma, and let's get down to the tunes. The band's established knack for picking up the Beach Boys and dropping them off in Hipsterland is an inevitable feature, from the dreamy handclaps of 'Skippin Town' to the reverbed tambourines of 'Down By The Water'. The other side of their personality is the ice cool minimalism of '80s disco, which comes to the front on the Duran Duran-style breakup lament 'It Will All End In Tears'. In either shape or form, the band have got the skills to pay the bills.
The question is then: do you believe The Drums, or are they too cool, conceptual and ironic to really mean anything? For me it's a bit of both: Jonathan Pierce's voice feels a little too distanced and posed to make way for true love, but this record didn't make any boasts of sincerity; it's just a breezy soundtrack to an end-of-summer evening. It's this broader atmosphere of casual intimacy that wins the day. Just!