The Drums

Though it won't arrive in time to live up to its title in full, Summertime!, the debut by Brooklyn, NY's the Drums, has a timeless quality that guarantees it will be around for many summers to come. Headed up by childhood friends Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham, the Drums are a bunch of clean-cut lads that write summer songs for heartbroken daydreamers. Sure, they might name a song "Saddest Summer" but with its overzealous velocity, pep rally chorus, horn squad and hand-clapping rhythm it's one of pop music's greatest paradoxes. And it only gets better. The boisterous "Let's Go Surfing" usurps Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks" as the most effective use of whistling-as-a-hook ever, and then they pucker up again on retro-futuristic hyper-ballad "Make You Mine," which marries Frankie & Annette surf flicks with the type of beach pop that Sweden's Sincerely Yours have patented. By the time they reach the Spector-like torch song "Down By the Water," it's clear that the Drums have delivered the perfect EP for summer, winter, fall or spring.