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The Drums

Summertime! EP

(TwentySeven; US: 15 Sep 2009; UK: 12 Oct 2009)

In their band bio, the Drums admit their mission statement is simple and a little cliche: “...we’re really just like everybody else, chasing that perfect pop song. And that’s not so bad right?” Not bad at all. Especially, if you’ve actually written a perfect pop song as the Drums have done with “Let’s Go Surfing”, and it’s a pretty unique pop song to boot. The Drums are clearly informed by Factory Records alumni Joy Division, New Order and the Wake as well as the Cure’s earlier oeuvre, but there’s nothing dreary about these boys. When Drums’ singer Jonathan Pierce breathlessly begins singing “Wake up, it’s a beautiful morning” over a guitar line that splits the difference between Bernard Sumner and Dick Dale, you’re helpless to resist the song’s charms. The rest of Summertime! is equally carefree, enthusiastic and obsessed with surf, sun and girls/boys. Even on more melancholic tracks like “Down By the Water”, the Drums’ exuberance shines through like the warmth of the sun.

Rating:

Ben has been resigned to the life of a music geek ever since that fateful weekend in July of ‘97 he rode his bike to the record store to purchase OK Computer and Dig Me Out. As a writer, he strives to keep alive the dying art of geeking out about the music he deems indispensable. Further musings on the music he loves can be found on his blog, The Bearded Cephalopod. He currently resides in Astoria, New York.


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The Drums - "Let's Go Surfing"
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