The Drums: "I Felt Stupid"

Morrissey—if only he could play beach volleyball. Sand in his quiff, his black shirt buggered up with Ambre Solaire stains…doesn’t make for a winning image, does it? Fortunately, new New Yorkers the Drums come fresh from the shores of Purgatory—Jonathan Pierce released from a ten-year lockdown at Columbia Records and Jacob Graham skilled with Horse Shoes—so they’ve got a tablespoon of devil dust to help them with their dream. And their dream runs something like this: a “pigeonhole this motherfuckers” blend of Madchester moans, surfboy guitar, and Brandon Flowers’ make-up bag that’s both sour and equally sweet, the two old [yikes: thirty] soldiers oozing relief like men with healed hemorrhoids. Pierce’s voice in particular is pure forlorn treacle, zig-zagging shyly as he bops between synths while failing to pick up the beach babes. “Have I lived my life too selfishly, baby?” he sighs, over and over, indie things chiming behind him. There’s even a bit of Frank Black magic at work too, hidden on headphones in between the angelic bass line and jived-up temptation to scream. Can the magic last for more than four minutes, though, and can it hold steady when dished up in six different flavours? We’ll find out when the EP ships in August.