Live Review: The Drums @ The Lexington, London

Date: 6th September 2011

Words: Elliot Kuruvita

Springing from a seemingly bottomless pool of new talent, you could be forgiven for thinking The Drums are just another one of these ‘decent’ but ‘much of the same' bands.

But tonight in the plush surrounds of London’s Lexington, a newly revitalised live music venue boasting a modernist's take on Baroque décor, The New Yorkers were quietly plotting a full-on assault of their sophomore release in an environment that’s a far cry from the dingy, hipster clubs of Greenwich Village.

The Drums' self titled debut made all the right noises and while their second release, Portamento, seems to have crept up on us out of nowhere, it was these three nights dotted around a clued up and conscious East London that front man Jonathan Pierce and co. chose to give those in the know a quick glimpse of what they’ve been up to this past year before unleashing to the masses with a full winter tour.

The jaunty, staccato guitars and floating vocals lends itself to The Drums' 80’s pastiche with simplicity and ease and new single 'Money' provides sound evidence of a daring yet shameless pillaging of The Smiths' and Joy Division’s halcyon days.

The crowd, a mix of twenty something fashionistas, were unnaturally tame and static; the odd bob of a head for 'Me And The Moon' and 'Best Friend', but that was as much as this lethargic weekday crowd could muster.

Jonathan Pierce’s overtly 80’s discotheque movements took centre stage but to say The Drums didn’t find form tonight would be largely unfair. There’s something starkly captivating about their sound, a sound that can be plucked out of thin air and dropped into most scenes with an apparent ease. With very little crowd interaction and theatrics, it’s the twin guitars, driving synth and on/off bass that makes the biggest sound here tonight.

In reality the new offerings from Portamento wouldn’t have provided anything particularly fresh or different, but merged with old favourites such as 'Forever And Ever, Amen', you did get the sense of an emergence within the sound. The absence of 'Let’s Go Surfing' was testament to a band who are eager for change, but perhaps haven’t quite found it yet. That’s not necessarily a band thing though; if The Queen Is Dead had a been a reggae album The Drums may not have made ankle swingers and dad dancing cool again.

See more Skiddle reviews.