The New Drifts

PEI's the New Drifts share many similarities to the opposite coast's Radiogram, from the folky songwriting and trading lead male/female vocals to the out of tune trumpet. Unlike their chamber folk counterparts, however, the New Drifts bring a straighter-edged rock mentality to their material. Nemesis is full of what the band describes as "progressive roots" music, which, ten years ago would simply be known as folk-rock. The songs are largely acoustic-based four- or five-chord work-outs with the occasional guitar god solos added for good measure. Dave Gould's percussion draws a welcome world beat flavour out of many songs and on some tracks, like "Thief," keep relatively ordinary songs sounding unique.