A slower tune than the usually danceable indie-pop packages produced by Brooklyn boys the Drums, “Down By The Water” showcases the quartet’s depth. The track is from the band’s self-titled LP, which is out today via the Downtown label. With influences from ’60s teenage-pop sensation the Shangri-Las to post-punk primogenitor Ian Curtis, they not only sound like their predecessors, they look like them as well. They demonstrate their aesthetic in the video for “Down By The Water”: standing on cylindrical platforms equally spaced, hands by their sides except for the occasional choreographed arm movement, expressionless—all seen through a black-and-white lens. The Drums explain, “Both the video and song are a tribute to the girl groups of the ’50s and ’60s, a great inspiration to the band and one of the reasons we started it.”
