News Drowners

: Drowners
Based: New York
Listen: ‘Long Hair’, available now through Birthday Records
Similar to: Mazes, The Strokes

As the first imprint on his label – Birthday Records – Nick Hodgson of Kaiser Chiefs fame has released the new single, ‘Long Hair,’ from New York via Wales’ Drowners. The band are apparently named after Britpop titans Suede’s debut single (‘The Drowners’) but by the sounds of their new single and EP, it seems that Drowners take their influences from a slightly punkier scene than Suede’s early ‘90s wonder years. ‘Long Hair’ crams all of the vital elements to produce an impressive, summery indie-pop song into less than two-minutes: with the jangly guitar chords racing alongside the raucous rhythm section and Matt Hitts’ vocals. Sounding reminiscent of an Westernised version of Mazes, with a music video containing cameo appearances from hipster royalty, including Dev Hynes, Spector’s Fred Macpherson and none other than Alexa Chung.

Meanwhile the other two tracks taken from the band’s debut EP combine a total length of three-minutes and fifty-six seconds, with the whole set coming and going in less than six-minutes. While ‘You’ve Got It All Wrong’ embodies guitar work similar to ’50s Rock ‘n’ Roll acts such as Buddy Holly, albeit sped up and modernised significantly, and ‘A Shell Across The Tongue’ features similar, although grittier, elements to those featured in the songs of The Strokes, back in their prime.

It’s still early days for Drowners, but with uplifting tracks such as ‘Long Hair’ to their name, you can expect to catch them playing at a handful of music festivals this summer.

‘Long Hair’ is out from today through Birthday Records.