Review: The Drums – S/T
The Drums – S/T (2010) [Island] // Grade: B+
“Under The Boardwalk,” meet The Smiths. And Martin Hannett. And Pretty In Pink. The Drums Summertime! EP was such the bastard sadsack of all that, and if anything’s changed in the year since its release—aside from an even more widespread bummer-summer beach obsession—it’s only the balance of Factory Records to John Hughes: i.e., the album’s characteristically heartbreak dark, but with a more obvious Hughesian happy ending vibe. And honestly, that’s not even a shift; The Drums just feels more like last year’s epic “I Felt Stupid” than it does, say, “Make You Mine”. The band’s still beachy, sunny, summery. They’re still infectious as hell. They’re still Hype City USA and good enough to merit it. And no, they haven’t totally jumped the indie-pop shark I wondered about so many months ago.
Unless, of course, there was no shark to jump. For all the sandy greatness of songs like the Pet Shop Boys-worthy “I Need Fun In My Life” or end-of-summer wistful “Best Friend” and “Book Of Stories”, there’s something sort of calculated about the band’s existence. They’re almost too much the extension of hyped Harvard prep-pop like Vampire Weekend: not the kids up all night with a Paul Simon record brainstorming rhymes for words like horchata, but the whip-smart party schoolers sneaking wine coolers by the pier, falling in and out of love, singing “This Charming Man” loudly and in unison. The Drums are buzz-friendly to a fault, trendy to a tee; it doesn’t diminish the pleasure of the album—I mean, it can’t, these songs are way too good at referencing things so many of us grew up loving—but it does provide an interesting backdrop. Are we looking at purity of intention, musical honesty? Or just a super-successful attempt at capitalizing on mass desire? And either way…does it matter? “What’s Your Take On Cassavetes” and all that.
Figure it out for yourself, because I sure as to hell can’t. I cringe at The Drums as much as I love them, suspect the machine as much as I buy into it. Some things are so calculated, enjoying them becomes involuntary; we’re all, somewhere down the line, suckers for market segmentation. And when it comes to a good song, solid pop, something so hummable and fun and dancey and exciting, well god, it’s tough to turn away. Think about it or don’t—out of context, at least, The Drums is a pretty flawless run of Smith meets Sumner surf-pop jams. What they’ll represent in the future and what they’re doing under the surface, behind closed doors…well, that’s anyone’s guess.
