the drums - summertime!

[Popfrenzy: 2009]
Technically, the debut release from Brooklyn duo The Drums is an EP but it comes with a very generous eight tracks. Summertime! is a fitting title for this collection of buoyant pop tunes. The opening track and first single “Lets Go Surfing” conjures up images of sun, sand and surf like something out of a Sixties surf poster – complete with floral shirts and ten foot surfboards. For those of us lucky enough to be in the southern hemisphere right now “Let’s Go Surfing” would have to be up there as one of the summer’s best theme songs (even if it is a slightly obvious choice). And for our northern-hemispherical pals out there, dancing to the jumpy guitar jam will help keep you warm at night. The retro surf-rock feel also flows out of “Make you mine” - all twanging guitars and Beach Boy falsettos, as well as the forlorn break up ballad “Down By The Water” - that wouldn’t be out of place at a Grease-era school dance or on the soundtrack of a John Hughes’ Eighties flick starring Molly Ringwald. Not all the tracks lean toward summer days and good times - the stand out track “Submarine” sounds more like the expressive pop gloom of Robert Smith than the sunshine of Brian Wilson. As the band themselves have stated "We 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." There’s no mistaking that dichotomy in the bipolar moods created across this selection of songs. But, in the end, this release is short, fun and addictive…kind of like summertime itself.

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