The Drums

“Let’s Go Surfing”
from the EP Summertime!
2009
iTunes

In their band bio, The Drums admit their mission statement is simple and a little cliche: “…we’re really just like everybody else, chasing that perfect pop song. And that’s not so bad right?” Not bad at all. Especially, if you’ve actually written a perfect pop song as the Drums have done with “Let’s Go Surfing,” and it’s a pretty unique pop song to boot. The Drums are clearly informed by Factory Records alumni Joy Division, New Order, and the Wake as well as the Cure’s earlier oeuvre, but there’s nothing dreary about these boys. When Drums’ singer Jonathan Pierce breathlessly begins singing “Wake up, it’s a beautiful morning” over a guitar line that splits the difference between Bernard Sumner and Dick Dale, you’re helpless to resist the song’s charms. The rest of Summertime! is equally carefree, enthusiastic, and obsessed with surf, sun, and girls/boys. Even on more melancholic tracks like “Down By the Water,” the Drums’ exuberance shines through like the warmth of the sun.