To coincide with three intimate London album launch shows, The Drums’ second album, ‘Portamento’ will now be released on September 5th through Moshi Moshi / Island Records, a week earlier than originally planned.
This week the New York trio have also uploaded a remix of Portamento’s lead single ‘Money’ by Seattle electronic duo Beat Connection. It can be downloaded for free here:
The remix follows the M Blash (known for his videos for Final Fantasy/Owen Pallett & writing and directing the Cannes-screened feature Lying) directed video for the original single, which has been heavily blogged over the past couple of weeks.
Explaining the change in mood for this video, The Drums vocalist Jonny Pierce says “things have become more personal this time around. Stylistically, things have evolved a bit, but the real change has been subject matter. On our first EP and album we used a lot if surrealism and really romanticized everything. Portamento is rooted in honesty.”
‘Portamento’– released just over a year since their debut – reveals a band tugging lightly at the boundaries of their sound while still retaining their recognizable sonic signatures. Sweet rushes of melody and brittle synthesizer sheens colliding with wiry Spector-esque guitar lines are still very much present, but singer, Jonny Pierce’s lyrics have assumed a deeper, personal tone and coupled with the band’s own more expansive production, ‘Portamento’ is a more complex, but ultimately more rewarding listen than their debut.
To accommodate the record’s sonic expansiveness, the band has swollen to a quintet live, augmented by two auxiliary members including good friend Myles Matheny on guitar and bass. Also gone are the backing tracks used for the bulk of their live shows to date, thus lending their performances a more visceral, spontaneous feel, in line with the aesthetic of the new album.
The Drums play a string of intimate London album release shows next month, all of which collectively sold out less than 15 minutes after going on sale.
The Drums live dates are:
Sept 05 London Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
Sept 06 London Lexington
Sept 07 London XOYO
Sept 08 Bestival Isle of Wight
Sept 17 SPLIT Festival Sunderland
The Drums are:
Jonny Pierce – vocals, guitars
Jacob Graham – synths
Connor Hanwick – guitar
