In an era when zealous music blogs compete to be the first to unearth potential new stars, the spotlight often seems to fall on young musicians who’ve done little more than strum a few simple guitar chords in their bedroom and upload the recordings to Bandcamp or Soundcloud. Take Brooklyn band Friends. Having not yet put out a release longer than a single, the five-piece has still garnered much positive attention from seemingly every online music resource, as well as mainstream press exposure from The New York Times and The Guardian among others. The group was even named one of NME’s Top 50 Artists of 2011, was nominated for BBC’s “Sound of 2012” poll, and placed 4th on The Deli's Best NYC emerging Artists of 2011 Poll. Having captured the imagination of critics and fans despite a limited output, Friends have actually moved beyond the whispers of being an Internet buzz band to one riding a huge wave of excitement and positivity. - Read Dean Van Nguyen's full feature on the band here.
"Uptempo" and "Pop" are by themselves two concepts that - in the business of being an indie band - can take you quite far; but if on top of that you add to the equation also comparisons to The Smiths, then the hype can get out of control. Brooklyn's Drowners have more than one similarity with Morrisey's act, and although they will surely feel belittled by such comparison, they should not, because no artists really managed to be The Smiths' worthy musical heir yet (like, for example, XTC were for The Beatles, Robin Hitchcock for Syd Barrett, and The Strokes for Lou Reed - uhm, maybe...).
The band's 3 songs debut EP features the remarkable single "Between Us Girls" (streaming below) which immediately throws us back to the days of "Meat is Murder," with the electric guitar alternating between jangly parts and arpeggios, and Welsh frontman Matt Hitt singing semi-melancholically about some girls' hair length - rather than about how big they are... The edge is slightly punkier, while the songwriting reveals an almost clinical concision (the song clocks in just under 2 minutes, with the first chorus coming in after 26" - A&R allergic to intros will dig that).
The second song, "You've Got it All Wrong," beats a similar musical path, tackling the infinite well of inspiration that (for Brits) is life at the pub, with the difference of a slower bridge, which acts as a breather for the final chorus. Final track "A Shell Across the Tongue" is the punkier of the bunch, but also the one with the least memorable melody.
This is obviously a band with enormous songwriting potential. If they'll manage to write songs as good as these and integrate their influences in a more mature and personal sound, the world can be theirs. - PDG
