review : drowners // drowners

photo: frenchkissrecords

If you're in need of curing the January blues, then I suggest you to get your hands on 

a copy of Drowners' fast-paced, punchy debut. 

(FYI: it's out on Monday, via Frenchkissing Records.)

I've spoken numerous times about how excited I am to see this band grow; I think the album

 sums up what they're about perfectly, in just half an hour's listening. 

Don't expect a pristine, polished sound.. because these guys are making proper, gritty guitar music.

And, in my opinion, that's exactly how it should be done - no frills; a bit rough around the edges. 

Every song has the potential to be a hit(t)...

Perhaps it's the length of the tracks, which makes them catchy and attention-grabbing

(they're each 3 minutes long at the most), but you definitely won't find any 'fillers' on here. 

The lyrics show off Hitt's poetic ability that we've seen in their previous releases - 

where real life is romanticised, but not overly so.

Stand out tracks would have to be:

'Let Me Finish', 'Pure Pleasure' and 'Watch You Change'.

'Bar Chat' is the most brash of the lot, and 'Unzip Your Harrington' slows the pace down a bit.

All in all, it's exceptional. Five stars from me.

★★★★★

Drowners will support fellow New Yorkers - Skaters - on their UK tour in March.

For more information on tour dates and to pre-order the album, click here.

You can read the interview I did with lead singer Matt Hitt here. 

interview : drowners

photo: thisisfakediy.co.uk

Drowners are one of New York's best kept secrets, but won't be for much longer.

Named after a Suede song, fond of a good leather jacket, and frontman Matthew Hitt even had a brief modelling stint..

What's not to love?

Their debut album is due for release early next year, and they've already given us a preview with the single, 'Luv Hold Me Down'. 

You can watch the video here, (which consists mostly of skateboarding, beer-drinking, and travelling around America). 

These guys are seriously good, so if you haven't already checked them out then I suggest you do.

I managed to get in touch with Matthew, and he very kindly agreed to answer a few questions.

Tell me a bit about yourselves..

We formed in late 2011 after we all met in numerous bars. 

I'd written some songs and decided to book a gig before we'd played together, 

so we kind of had a self-imposed deadline to get our heads down and work on some songs. 

We've kinda had that work ethic ever since.

How would you describe your sound?

It's sort of melodic post-punk influenced guitar music. 

Someone said neo-Britpop once and I quite liked that.

Your lyrics seem very 'real'. What do you tend to write about? 

Pretty much all of the songs are about actual people/situations that've happened. 

Otherwise, I write down things that I hear people say while they're arguing on a street corner or on the subway.

You guys met at a bar, right? What made you want to start the band together?

We just eventually realized that we had this massive musical common ground and we'd all played in bands before. 

It was something we all wanted to spend time doing and Jack had already gotten a practice space,

 so we kind of started meeting there instead of the pub.

What do you like doing when you're not making music?

Personally, I like walking around New York. I don't spend much time doing anything else. 

Writing, practicing, walking round and boozing...

Your debut album is due for release early next year. What should we expect? 

We recorded it with Gus Oberg and Johnny T in about 3 weeks. 

It's pretty fast paced and, to me, sounds romantically aggressive. 

It's out on January 28th through FrenchKiss Records.

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single of the week // drowners

photo: spin.com

I've posted about Drowners a few times now on here, because they're a band who consistently impress me with every release. 

The story: lead singer Matt Hitt is originally from South Wales, but relocated to New York a few years ago. 

He met a few guys who were into music, and Drowners were born.

Their debut EP 'Between Us Girls' was released in the UK in February, via Birthday Records. 

It featured three tracks, all under two minutes in length, and paints the perfect picture of the band.

Leather jackets, Jack Kerouac, skateboards, New York's East Village. These guys are the epitome of cool. 

It's no wonder they're best mates with Alexa Chung.

Their latest single 'Luv, Hold Me Down' showcases a more polished sound than what we heard on the EP. 

Hitt's vocals are noticeably enhanced, not that he needs them to be, and the guitars are more Smiths-y (which isn't a bad thing).

His writing is still the same though; describing real-life situations, which makes the songs relatable (but not in a Mike Skinner way, a much more refined way..)

He once joked that he doesn't walk around with headphones on, because he'll hear a couple arguing and think 'oh, there's a chorus'.. and to a certain extent I can see this is true. 

Surely this can only mean that the album, which is due for release in January 2014, will be even more impressive.