Info: Drown are a Galway based post-punk outfit brought together over a love of the subversive and perverse. Formed late last year in the wake of several of the members previous projects, anticipation and hype have surrounded the band from the start. They've been cited as one of the 'Ten Irish Alternative Bands You Should Listen To', trended on Reddit's 'Listen to This' forum, and gained nearly 5,000 Youtube hits in less than a month of releasing the first track from their debut EP. Since then, the band have been gigging relentlessly, and on August the 19th they released their self-titled EP to stellar reviews.
Believe the hype yo! Galway five-piece Drown released their debut self-titled EP a few weeks back and it's easy to see why the plaudits have been unanimous, and why first single, 'Descent', has become so popular. The opening track pastes a modern twist from a palette of influences including Sonic Youth, Pixies and My Bloody Valentine, but where they differ is in the vocal department, there's no moping about here, it's all energy and raw power.
Second track 'Take Care' builds on its predecessor, slick guitar riffs and fuzzed-out spaces surround frontman Robert Dalton's nonchalant vocal drawl on a song that oozes laid-back cool coupled with a satirical lyrical theme which fits nicely with the mood of the music. 'Narcos' doffs it's cap to some of Interpol's (rare!) faster paced tracks, intense percussion and freely looping guitars are disorienting and incessant, a definite highlight on the EP and one that sounds so accomplished already, these guys know what they are doing.
We end on the really sweet and mellow 'Tao', and time to acknowledge vocalist Laura McGennis' extremely easily on the ear range. It's about as lo-fi as Drown get on this collection of tracks but it gives a nice balance to the EP overall and I could easy listen to the track from start to finish if it was doubled in length. It seems at times, and I hold my hand up here too, that all of the focus can be on Cork, Belfast and Dublin when it comes to both coverage and density of acts, but Galway is now rising thanks to the quality of bands like Drown, and this is more important than you might think in terms of sustaining the momentum of the last few years in Irish music, which has been nothing short of incredible.
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