The Drums – I Want It All

15th May 2023 · 2020s, 2023, Music

The Drums, now the solo project of Jonny Pierce, return from a five-year hiaitus with an anthemic electro-ballad, I Want It All.

Just over a decade ago I went to some sweaty cellar in Shoreditch called XOYO to see that week’s hot new indie darlings, The Drums.

By then, thanks to a vulnerable indie-lite sound that recalled the Postcard era of Orange Juice and Aztec Camera – first heard on a catchy song called Let’s Go Surfing – they had already created a buzz.

They’d been featured in the BBC’s Sound of 2010 poll and appeared on the cover of the NME, back when it was a real paper with some remaining influence.

Their slightly fey indie-pop didn’t do much for me. I felt they were overhyped and undertalented: America’s answer to Razorlight – right down to the egocentric front man called Jo(h)nny – but the “kids” loved it and it was such an Event at the time that it was professionally filmed and can now be seen in its entirety on YouTube.

Their second album Portamento had a bit of a moment and just recently one of its songs, Money, had one of those inexplicable viral revivals, suddenly garnering a staggering 230 million plays on Spotify.

And now, nearly five years after their last album, they – or rather he, Jonny Pierce – is back with a comeback single called I Want It All, whose gentle, breezy sound belies a poignantly personal lyric reflecting on childhood trauma.

Rather like that gig back in 2011, it didn’t do a lot for me at first… but it’s a grower.