The Drums - ‘Summertime!’ EP

choose to have the title of their latest EP placed in inverted commas. That could give some reasoning towards the desperately dark and squalid themes that emerge from a collection of songs that names itself after the finest, happiest of seasons. “This ain’t what I thought it would be, this is the saddest summer ever” is the closing refrain of the opening track’s chorus, luring its listeners in with anything but optimism. And this is perfect: The Drums have instantly set aside doubts that they’d be a clichéd, one-dimensional pop act who can only pride themselves on one emotion. They’ve done this before the big time knocks on their door - and it will - and they’re all the more formidable for it.

But the signs were there from the off. Previous single ‘Let’s Go Surfing’ was indeed filmed on a beach. But it was filmed on a beach at night – there was not one sign of sunbathing tourists or a macho lifeguard. The Drums have also cited New Order and The Smiths as core influences. It all adds up to a band who could switch their focus to either side: pure, sun-tinged and high spirited or bogged down and morbid. The prospect of both is absolutely thrilling.

“Oh baby, I don’t know what to do with myself.” Lyrics are at the heart of this veiled tone of depression. In similar style to Girls, The Drums’ lyrics make up a poignant polar opposite to the majority of the sounds crafted on top of the words sung. Much of ‘Summertime!’ consists of hand-claps, whistling, knee-jerk, sharp guitar parts. But the lyrics sitting aside display bleak wit; “You used to be so pretty. But now you’re just tragic. Believe in something. You’re full of horse-shit” being the stand-out collection.

But the key to ‘Summertime!’’s success is the melodies. Members of The Drums have already consistently expressed their desire to write “the perfect pop song”. And although that’s a far from abnormal aspiration, it’s the kind that seems to dominate the band’s outlook when it comes to writing almost every note of a song. The finest three-and-a-half-minutes comes in at the climax; ‘Down By The Water’, a ‘Stand By Me’-esque, welled-up, childish declaration that “I just wanna love you deaaar!”. It’s the kind of hands-in-the-air anthem that made bands in the 60s and it’s very much because of that melody. So far, The Drums are setting their own goals and by God, they are meeting the targets.