Brooklyn’s The Drums aren’t wasting time, but they’ve found it hard to keep up. The release of their second album, Portamento, comes just 15 months after their debut. In between the two, they toured relentlessly and lost guitarist Adam Kessler. Their drummer Connor Hanwick has stopped playing with them live. Earlier this summer, they admitted to almost splitting due to artistic differences. But whatever the turmoil, Portamento reveals that little has changed sonically in Drum land.
They still sound in thrall to The Smiths, New Order and lower-tier Factory bands like Section 25 and The Wake. And they still sound like a lighter, reverb-swathed “A Forest”/”Jumping Someone Else's Train” Cure with surf music backing vocals. What has changed, though, is the approach to songwriting. This time, songs hinge on the repetition of phrases rather than moving from one to the next. It makes each song – depending on your susceptibility - hypnotic or monotonous. It means that lyrics are highlighted, and a line like “Money"’s “before I die, I’d like to do something nice” doesn’t want to be to the fore. There’s a little too much of the specifically familiar: the spectral keyboard of Joy Division’s "Love Will Tear us Apart” weaves through “Please Don’t Leave”. "If He Likes it Let Him Do It" begins with a refrain this close to the one opening New Order’s “Ceremony”.
“Searching for Heaven” deviates from formula and stands out. A pulsing synth pattern beds a yearning vocal from Jonathan Pierce, the only time he stretches out. Overall, the approach parallels that of French band Phoenix, where constant restatement draws you in. Portamento is rigorously crafted. Slight, but its tunes nag.
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Download Portamento from iTunesWatch the video for “Money”
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