The Drums: Portamento – review

2 / 5 stars

The glums, more like: for all their perky bass lines and dreamy reverb, here's a band in desperate need of a good cheering up. With the Drums having lost a guitarist and almost split up, it's not surprising Portamento is driven by gloomy lyrics. What is surprising is that so little has changed despite the upheaval. Like last year's debut, this employs repetition and deliberate naivety, but it's starting to sound disingenuous, perhaps because of a strong sense of joylessness and duty. The maudlin, dreary Please Don't Leave and In the Cold are a slog, and though Book of Revelation ("Oh you're a pretty thing, but you're full of fear") has enough sinister charm to remind you why they earned all that hype in the first place, it's never quite enough.